The Star Wars franchise has a slew of novels out. Aside from the large number of stories for kids or side stories expanding the view into the coveted universe, they release a novel for each film release. Star Wars: The Last Jedi is only different in this instance because while the novel versions have come out almost simultaneously with their film counterparts, and this novel is set to release March 6th. There is something else different about the Star Wars: The Last Jedi novel, aside from its release date. It begins with Luke Skywalker standing next to his wife on Tatooine.
This is obviously not how the film went, and fans are both confused and excited, as some think this is because Mara Jade, a Legends favorite, is crossing over to the canon. That’s not exactly what’s going on here, however. Director Rian Johnson and the author of the novel, Jason Fry, have worked closely together on what LucasFilm has described as an “expanded edition”. It features new content, longer scenes, and alternate scenes, like extras you might see on a film release.
With the release of the Star Wars: The Last Jedi novel releasing in the near future, advance copies have already made their rounds, which means spoilers are leaking on social media and media news sites.
The very first line of the book reads,
“Luke Skywalker stood in the cooling sands of Tatooine, his wife by his side.”
Luke wasn’t on Tatooine in The Last Jedi, nor did he have a wife. Nonetheless, fans are linking this revelation with Mara Jade.
The Expanded Universe is no longer canon at this point. But who is Jade Mara? She was created by Timothy Zahn in 1991, and imperial servant turned Jedi Knight who eventually married Luke Skywalker. Fans wondered if somehow, Kylo Ren killed her.
Unfortunately, she is not making it into the novel after all, as the quote is just a bit of a tease. Reddit threads have allowed us to understand that Luke was just daydreaming about the wife he never had, on land he remembers from his childhood.
With this little twist of the knife in the hearts of fans everywhere, it makes Luke’s despair worse than anyone had thought. It is obvious he wishes he didn’t make the choices that denied him the life with a family of his own. Though, no matter his choices, maybe Rey would have found him eventually no matter where his choices took him.