100 Fun Facts About Star Wars: the Last Jedi

What does Luke Skywalker do when Rey hands him his lightsaber early in The Last Jedi?

Tosses it over his shoulder. The scene picks up the cliffhanger that closed the previous film and answers it with a shrug: he walks off to his hut and refuses even to speak to her.

To whom is Star Wars: The Last Jedi dedicated?

Carrie Fisher: the end credits read 'In loving memory of our princess'; she died in December 2016, five months after filming wrapped, so all her scenes were complete.

What do the Resistance bombers destroy in the opening battle of The Last Jedi?

A First Order dreadnought. The attack goes ahead against Leia's wishes and costs every bomber and crew, so she demotes the officer who led it.

How does Leia survive being blown into space?

She uses the Force to pull herself back. Her son Kylo Ren has her bridge in his sights and can't bring himself to fire; his wingmen do, killing most of the Resistance's leaders.

Which Resistance hero leads a mutiny against Vice-Admiral Holdo in The Last Jedi?

Poe Dameron. Convinced Holdo means to abandon ship and doom them all, he seizes the bridge, until a recovered Leia stuns him with a blaster and lets the evacuation go ahead.

How does R2-D2 persuade Luke to train Rey in The Last Jedi?

By replaying Leia's old hologram. It is the plea to Obi-Wan Kenobi that first drew Luke into the war; hearing it again, he relents and promises Rey three lessons.

What does Luke confess he briefly considered doing to the young Ben Solo?

Killing him in his sleep: sensing Snoke's corruption in Ben, Luke ignited his lightsaber over the sleeping boy for an instant; Ben woke, and the Jedi temple burned that night.

What does Yoda's Force ghost destroy with a bolt of lightning in The Last Jedi?

The Jedi tree library. Luke had come to burn it himself and lost his nerve; Yoda does it for him, saying its old books held nothing that Rey does not already possess.

What is the name of the casino town Finn and Rose visit to find a codebreaker?

Canto Bight: the casino city on the desert planet Cantonica, where Finn and Rose hunt for the master codebreaker and free the racing fathiers.

Who plays the hacker DJ in Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

Benicio del Toro. Finn and Rose are sent to find a different man, the 'master codebreaker' played by Justin Theroux, and settle for DJ after meeting him in a jail cell.

What does DJ do after being captured aboard Snoke's flagship?

Betrays the Resistance to Hux. DJ buys his freedom by revealing the secret evacuation, and the First Order turns its guns on the fleeing transports, destroying many of them.

How does Kylo Ren kill Snoke in The Last Jedi?

Ignites a lightsaber lying beside him. Snoke is boasting that he can read his apprentice's every intent when Kylo turns the Skywalker saber with the Force and cuts him in half.

What happens to Luke's old lightsaber during Rey and Kylo's struggle over it?

It is torn in half. Neither will let go, each dragging at it with the Force until it breaks apart, and Rey ends the film aboard the Falcon holding the two pieces.

How does Holdo cripple the First Order fleet?

By ramming Snoke's flagship at lightspeed. Holdo stays aboard the abandoned cruiser alone as a decoy, then turns it on the Supremacy and jumps, cutting the giant ship in two.

What title does Kylo Ren claim after Snoke's death?

Supreme Leader. It was Snoke's own title, and Kylo takes it only after Rey has refused his offer to rule the galaxy at his side.

On which planet does the final battle of The Last Jedi take place?

Crait. The cornered Resistance finds a few rusting ski speeders in the old Rebel base there and charges the First Order's siege cannon in them.

Where was The Last Jedi's battle on the salt-flat planet actually filmed?

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia. The world's largest salt flat supplied the white crust; in the story red soil lies just beneath it, so every speeder and footstep leaves a red trail.

What is the twist behind Luke Skywalker's duel with Kylo Ren on the salt flats?

He is a Force projection. Luke casts his image across the galaxy from his island; Kylo realises only when his blade meets nothing, and the effort costs Luke his life.

What does the stablehand child do in the final shot of The Last Jedi?

Moves a broom with the Force. The stable children have just been retelling Luke Skywalker's last stand to one another when one boy reaches for his broom and it slides into his hand.

What does Kylo tell Rey her parents were?

Nobodies who sold her for drinking money. Kylo does not so much tell her as make her say it, pressing her to admit what she has known all along, and then asks her to join him.

Who plays Rose Tico, which Rian Johnson called the largest new role in The Last Jedi?

Kelly Marie Tran: Rodriguez, Maslany and Olivia Cooke had been on the reported shortlist; Tran later left Instagram in 2018 after sustained racist harassment over the role.

Who plays Vice-Admiral Amilyn Holdo in The Last Jedi?

Laura Dern. She first played Holdo as the dreamy eccentric of the tie-in novel, but Rian Johnson found that version too spacey and the character's oddities were toned down.

Who took over the role of Chewbacca from Peter Mayhew in The Last Jedi?

Joonas Suotamo. The Finnish former basketball player had been Mayhew's body double in the previous film and took over fully here, with Mayhew, troubled by his knees and back, credited as 'Chewbacca consultant'.

Who voices Yoda in The Last Jedi, returning to the role for the Force-ghost scene?

Frank Oz: Yoda's original puppeteer and voice returned for the scene, and his name was kept out of the pre-release billing to preserve the surprise.

The porgs in The Last Jedi were created to disguise which real birds that covered the island location?

Puffins. The island is a wildlife preserve covered in them; they couldn't be moved and painting them out digitally was a lot of work, so the director turned them into a native species.

Which two royals filmed Last Jedi stormtrooper cameos that John Boyega said were cut?

Prince William and Prince Harry. They reportedly played troopers in a lift scene with Finn, and Boyega said the scene was cut and that he apologised to the princes in person.

Which director of a Star Wars spin-off film cameos as a Resistance soldier in The Last Jedi?

Gareth Edwards. The Rogue One director stands in the trench beside the soldier who tastes the salt; he had given Rian Johnson a cameo as an Imperial technician in his own film, and the favour was returned.

Veronica Ngo plays which Last Jedi character, who dies releasing the bombs in the opening battle?

Rose's sister, Paige. Hers is the last bomber left, and with its crew down she releases the bombs by hand; she and Rose wear matching medallions from their home system.

What was The Last Jedi's working title during production?

Space Bear. The main shoot began under that code name in February 2016; such titles hide a shoot from fans and the press, as 'Blue Harvest' did for Return of the Jedi.

Where did second-unit photography begin in September 2015, months before the main shoot?

Skellig Michael, Ireland: the crew shot there in September 2015, months before the main shoot, because the island is nearly inaccessible outside summer; the first day was lost to bad weather.

Which Croatian city hosted a week of filming for The Last Jedi in March 2016?

Dubrovnik. Its main street, the Stradun, became the casino city's boulevard, where the stampede Finn and Rose set loose was filmed.

Why is Yoda a puppet rather than computer-generated in The Last Jedi?

To match the one Luke trained with. The director felt a digital Yoda would not be true to the one Luke knew in The Empire Strikes Back, so a new puppet was made from that film's original moulds.

Who plays Rey in Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

Daisy Ridley. In the film's dark-side cave she touches a mirrored wall and asks to see her parents, and the vision shows her nothing but her own reflection.

Which pirate ally, appearing by hologram, tells Finn and Rose where to find a codebreaker in The Last Jedi?

Maz Kanata. She sends them after one particular master codebreaker, but they never reach him and leave instead with a stranger they meet in a jail cell.

Which Last Jedi star publicly disagreed with the direction of his own character during production?

Mark Hamill. He felt the disillusioned hermit was at odds with the Luke he knew, later said he regretted airing the row, and compared it to his clashes with George Lucas on Return of the Jedi.

Which veteran Rebel leader from Return of the Jedi is killed when the bridge of the Resistance cruiser is destroyed?

Admiral Ackbar. The commander of the Rebel fleet at Endor dies without a word when the bridge is hit, and the rest of the crew hears of it in a single line of a briefing.

The Last Jedi's $1.33 billion made it 2017's highest-grossing film, overtaking which earlier release?

Beauty and the Beast. Disney's own remake had led the year with $1.26 billion, so the studio knocked itself off the top, with a film reckoned to need $800 million just to break even.

The Last Jedi's $220 million opening weekend was the second-biggest ever at the time, behind which film?

The Force Awakens. Even so, The Last Jedi fell 67% in its second weekend, the steepest drop the series had seen, while still holding on to first place.

In which country did cinemas drop about nine in ten of The Last Jedi's screenings a week after it opened?

China. After a $28 million opening in January 2018 its screenings were slashed, and by its third weekend it sat ninth, far behind the Bollywood film Secret Superstar.

In 2019, what did Rotten Tomatoes say had hit The Last Jedi's audience score?

A review-bombing campaign. The site had first rejected claims of tampering, then said that only a few films had been hit this way, this one and Black Panther among them.

How did George Lucas describe The Last Jedi shortly after its release?

"Beautifully made": the verdict was relayed by his spokesperson after a screening, and it was warmer than his response to the previous film, which he had dismissed as a 'retro movie'.

The Last Jedi's four Oscar nominations were for visual effects, two sound awards and which other category?

Original Score. The nomination was John Williams's, for the eighth Star Wars episode he had scored, and like the film's three others it ended the night without a win.

Scottish actor Jimmy Vee took over which droid in The Last Jedi from its original performer?

R2-D2. Kenny Baker, inside the droid since 1977, had stepped back to consultant on the previous film, and Vee, a veteran of Doctor Who creature roles, succeeded him.

Who plays Snoke in Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

Andy Serkis. He acted the part on set before a digital makeover, only for the villain two films had built up to be killed off before the trilogy's final film.

Who catches Finn, Rose and DJ when they sneak aboard Snoke's flagship?

Captain Phasma. She orders a slow and painful execution for Finn and Rose, but the ship is torn apart around them before it can be carried out, and Finn beats her in the fight that follows.

Which Take That singer filmed a cameo for The Last Jedi?

Gary Barlow. The Take That frontman was long reported to be one of the stormtroopers guarding Finn in a lift, in a scene John Boyega later said had been cut from the film.

Which actor's stormtrooper cameo in The Last Jedi was shot but dropped from the final cut?

Tom Hardy. He plays a stormtrooper who recognises Finn in a lift and takes his stolen uniform for a promotion; the scene was cut and survives only as a deleted scene.

Whose modulated voice provides BB-8's final sound effects in The Last Jedi?

Bill Hader. His voice is fed through a synthesiser to make the droid's beeps, with Ben Schwartz credited as a voice consultant, while two puppeteers work the droid on set.

Which director was originally announced for Star Wars: Episode IX in 2015?

Colin Trevorrow: the Jurassic World director was announced for Episode IX in August 2015 and left the project in September 2017, after which J.J. Abrams returned to direct it.

Which animals show the trapped Resistance a hidden way out of their base at the end of The Last Jedi?

Crystal foxes. The vulptices, coated in white crystal bristles, live in the caves under the planet's salt crust, and the survivors follow them to a gap in the rock where Rey is waiting outside.

What colour milk does Luke Skywalker collect from a sea creature on his island in The Last Jedi?

Green milk comes from the thala-sirens, docile sea mammals that sun themselves on the rocks around the island's coast. Blue milk, the drink of Luke's youth on Tatooine, comes from banthas instead.

What minor offence lands Finn and Rose in a cell at the casino resort in The Last Jedi?

A parking violation does it: the pair leave their shuttle on a beach, and an annoyed local alien alerts the police, who arrest them inside the casino.

What does Rey see when she asks for a vision of her parents during her training in The Last Jedi?

Only her own image looks back from a row of mirrored Reys, a scene Rian Johnson wrote to symbolise her search for identity.

After the two of them defeat Snoke's guards in The Last Jedi, what does Kylo Ren ask Rey to do?

Rule the galaxy with him is the offer, made just when Rey hopes he has abandoned the dark side. She refuses, and the allies of a moment ago turn on each other.

How does Finn first appear on screen in Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

Waking from a coma, Finn immediately demands to know where Rey is. He had been unconscious since Kylo Ren seriously injured him as they fled Starkiller Base.

Which composer, who wrote the famous 1977 Star Wars theme, returned for The Last Jedi?

John Williams skipped the usual spotting session with the director, working instead from a temp track built out of his own earlier film music.

Which Game of Thrones actress plays the chrome-armoured stormtrooper commander in The Last Jedi?

Gwendoline Christie, who played Brienne of Tarth, got a new suit for the sequel, with a re-chromed helmet and cleaner, shinier armour.

Which actor, who served in the US Marine Corps before drama school, plays Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi?

Adam Driver enlisted shortly after the September 11 attacks, and later won a place at Juilliard on his second attempt.

Which obsolete craft do Finn and Rose fly against First Order walkers late in The Last Jedi?

Ski speeders are all the Resistance has left for a last-ditch defence of an abandoned Rebel Alliance outpost.

What First Order breakthrough stops the Resistance fleet simply jumping to safety in The Last Jedi?

Hyperspace tracking lets the First Order follow each jump, so the fleet can only crawl onward while its fuel runs low. Finn and Rose set out to disable the tracker.

On which remote planet is Luke Skywalker living in exile when Rey finds him in The Last Jedi?

Ahch-To is where the Jedi Order was founded, and Luke chose the long-lost world as his hiding place only after a lengthy search for it.

Which racing animals do Finn and Rose set loose from the casino stables in The Last Jedi?

Fathiers are prized for their speed by the wealthy, yet many are abused by jockeys and kept in cramped stalls.

Which keepsake of Han Solo does Luke Skywalker pass to Leia near the end of The Last Jedi?

His golden dice once dangled in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, and had been a childhood plaything of his son, Ben Solo.

Which film followed The Last Jedi and brought the Star Wars sequel trilogy to a close?

The Rise of Skywalker picks up Kylo Ren's story with his helmet repaired, after its destruction in the earlier film.

Which director of the previous Star Wars episode served as an executive producer on The Last Jedi?

J. J. Abrams also collaborated with Rian Johnson as the story took shape, to keep the handover between the trilogy's films smooth.

What colour are the robes Snoke wears in his red and black throne room in The Last Jedi?

Gold robes were costume designer Michael Kaplan's idea, and the theatrical throne room was designed to differ from Palpatine's more utilitarian one.

What is Finn trying to do when Rose first meets him, and stuns him, in The Last Jedi?

Flee in an escape pod is his plan, to keep himself and Rey out of danger. Rose, posted to guard the pods against deserters, stops him with an electro-shock prod.

Which Guatemalan-born actor plays the Resistance's hotshot X-wing pilot in Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

Oscar Isaac moved to the United States as an infant and had his breakthrough playing a struggling folk singer for the Coen brothers.

What are Snoke's red-armoured bodyguards, fought by Rey and Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi, called?

The Praetorian Guard numbers eight sentinels in four pairs, and its crimson armour deliberately echoes the protectors of Emperor Palpatine.

What does the First Order use to breach the Resistance fortress door late in The Last Jedi?

A siege cannon cracks the door open, but only after Rose stops Finn from sacrificing himself in an attempt to destroy the weapon.

Which numbered episode of the nine-part Skywalker saga is Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

The eighth episode is the middle chapter of the sequel trilogy, and its story begins immediately after the previous film ends.

Which Academy Award winner for 12 Years a Slave plays a motion-capture pirate in The Last Jedi?

Lupita Nyong'o had still not filmed her scenes more than a month after principal photography wrapped in July 2016.

Which actor, inside the droid's metal suit since the 1977 original, returns as C-3PO in The Last Jedi?

Anthony Daniels found the original costume so uncomfortable that he wore only the parts of it a shot would show.

Which star of the romantic comedy About Time plays General Hux in Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

Domhnall Gleeson is the son of actor Brendan Gleeson, who plays Alastor Moody in the Harry Potter series.

Which actress, whose mother played Leia, appears in The Last Jedi as Lieutenant Connix?

Billie Lourd plays the Resistance officer in all three films of the sequel trilogy, and her grandmother was the actress Debbie Reynolds.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who voices an alien in The Last Jedi, led which earlier Rian Johnson film?

Looper cast him as the younger version of Bruce Willis's character, and he had already taken the lead in Johnson's debut feature, Brick.

Which star of The Leftovers plays the tuxedoed Master Codebreaker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

Justin Theroux plays a slicer recognisable by the red plom bloom on his lapel, and Lily Cole appears as his companion.

Which actor, who played the Ewok Wicket in 1983, has a cameo as Wodibin in The Last Jedi?

Warwick Davis was first hired only as an extra Ewok, and took over as Wicket when the intended performer fell ill.

Which Shaun of the Dead director makes a cameo appearance in Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

Edgar Wright slips into the film along with fellow filmmaker Joe Cornish, who makes a cameo of his own.

Which English studio, home of the 007 Stage, hosted principal photography for The Last Jedi?

Pinewood Studios housed 125 sets across 14 sound stages, trimmed down from the 160 sets the original script called for.

Which franchise's sequel took the May 2017 release date that The Last Jedi gave up for December?

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales moved up from July into the vacated late-May slot, and the Star Wars film opened on December 15 instead.

Which film, in its third week, finally knocked The Last Jedi off the top of the US box office?

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle had opened in second place behind the Star Wars film over Christmas before later overtaking it.

What average grade did opening-weekend audiences polled by CinemaScore give The Last Jedi?

A was the average on a scale running from A+ to F, a far warmer verdict than the user ratings posted on aggregator websites.

Which Star Wars video game added free Last Jedi content in place of an official tie-in game?

Battlefront II added two of the film's planets and a playable Finn as free downloads, with the season starting ten days before the film opened.

Which actor was courted to play the thief DJ in The Last Jedi but ended up passing on the offer?

Joaquin Phoenix was courted in 2015, the year the eventual DJ confirmed his own casting while denying that the part was a villain.

Which planet's Resistance base is being evacuated as Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens?

D'Qar was the launch point for the attack on Starkiller Base, and the First Order fleet arrives just as the last Resistance transports are leaving.

What is the name of Snoke's vast command ship, the First Order's mobile capital, in The Last Jedi?

Supremacy was the only ship of its class, and the Resistance knew of it only by rumour until it finally revealed itself.

The Last Jedi's Resistance cruiser Raddus honours an admiral who led the Rebel fleet in which film?

Rogue One shows Admiral Raddus commanding the attack on Scarif from the cruiser Profundity, and he dies in that battle.

Kylo Ren's personal starfighter in The Last Jedi, stretched to look more aggressive, is called what?

TIE silencer is the name, and its design began with the older TIE interceptor before being stretched for extra menace.

What two-word philosophy does the thief DJ wear on a plate on his hat in The Last Jedi?

Don't Join sums up a cynic who sees the First Order and the Resistance as two halves of the same corrupt money machine.

Which dark First Order astromech droid is assigned to Snoke's command ship in The Last Jedi?

BB-9E keeps a photoreceptor out in every spectrum for infiltrators, saboteurs and other threats aboard the vessel.

Which species are the Caretakers who tend the ancient structures on Luke's island in The Last Jedi?

Lanai females keep the island's buildings as a religious duty, while the males spend most of their time at sea and return for monthly celebrations.

Which Gregory Peck film about a bomber group did Rian Johnson screen for The Last Jedi's story team?

Twelve O'Clock High was screened along with The Bridge on the River Kwai and Three Outlaw Samurai while the story was being developed.

The Last Jedi's casino music quotes an Ary Barroso tune in tribute to which Terry Gilliam film?

Brazil takes its own title from the same song, Aquarela do Brasil, which recurs as the theme of Gilliam's film.

Creature designer Neal Scanlan said The Last Jedi has more of what than any other Star Wars film?

Practical effects brought 180 to 200 creatures to life on set, although some of them were cut from the final edit.

How does Luke Skywalker's story end after he faces down Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi?

He passes into the Force at peace, having bought the Resistance time to get away, and both Rey and Leia sense the moment.

Rian Johnson won a 2018 Saturn Award for Star Wars: The Last Jedi in which category?

Best Writing went to Johnson at a ceremony where Black Panther won the most film awards with five, including the directing prize.

The Last Jedi won Best Film at the 2018 awards of which British film magazine?

Empire let its readers choose the winners, and the first Best Film prize had gone to Braveheart in 1996.

Which author's novel Leia, Princess of Alderaan first introduced The Last Jedi's Vice-Admiral Holdo?

Claudia Gray wrote the teenage Holdo as an eccentric who dyes her hair exotic colours, goes barefoot and speaks in riddles.

The Last Jedi's casino patron Dobbu Scay is named after which member of the production crew?

Its editor, Bob Ducsay, lent a scrambled version of his name to the character, who mistakes BB-8 for a slot machine.