This Impressive Star Wars Fan-Edit Changes Everything By Adding Just a Few Seconds to The Force Awakens

After The Force Awakens premiered, fans had to wait two years to get satisfaction in seeing the movie’s massive cliffhanger resolved. Two years of wondering what Luke would say to Rey as she handed him his lightsaber, what he would do, if he would recognize her, and what his return to heroism would look like.

Now, that cliffhanger was great. It was a grand, majestic way to end the movie that relaunched the franchise and the anticipation it stirred up was exciting. But a video editor named Jacob Martin has posted an alternate version to Twitter, which imagines what the film might have looked like if it went on just a few seconds longer. (Well, not technically longer, since that shot of Rey holding out the lightsaber went on for days. But you’ll see what I mean.)

Obviously, this version wasn’t ever an option, since J.J. Abrams didn’t know where Rian Johnson would go with The Last Jedi. So this is all purely hypothetical. Still, hypothetically speaking, I’m head-over-heels in love with this ending and I wish I could visit the alternate timeline where this movie exists.

Not only is the lightsaber toss a great button on a dramatic moment, but imagine the two years of speculation we would have gotten from this ending. Personally, I felt that Luke’s journey as a recluse who’s shut himself off from the Force was well-justified and adequately developed, I get that not everyone shares that opinion. And Johnson’s hard turn in this moment was shocking. If we’d had years to wonder what this moment was about, rather than years to dwell on the epic drama of finally seeing our hero again, would The Last Jedi have been differently received? We can’t know the answer to that, but this short clip certainly gives us plenty of fodder for a Star Wars fan’s favorite pastime: speculation.

What do you think of this ending to The Force Awakens?

(via i09, image: Disney)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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