Star Wars: The Last Jedi isn't out for another few months, but save your energies speculating who exactly is the Last Jedi, because director Rian Johnson has already kindly told us.

Turns out, all you needed to do was straight-up ask him.

In an in-depth interview with the filmmaker, The New York Times questioned Johnson as to why December's much-anticipated chapter is called The Last Jedi, and he explained that the secret's actually been out there for a while.

"It's in the opening crawl of The Force Awakens," he said. "Luke Skywalker, right now, is the last Jedi.

"There's always wiggle room in these movies — everything is from a certain point of view — but coming into our story, he is the actual last of the Jedi. And he's removed himself and is alone on this island, for reasons unknown."

A little research into that opening crawl will confirm that, yep, Luke Skywalker is referred to as "the last Jedi" at the end of its first paragraph.

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Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

Thanks for clearing that up, Rian.

The director has also written the script for The Last Jedi and he revealed that the "first thing" he had to work out was how Luke had gone missing in the first place.

"I didn't have any answers," he recalled. "But it's not like you can just pick anything you want out of the air. I grew up having a sense of who Luke Skywalker is. It guides you to a very specific path.

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"I know he's not hiding on the island. I know he's not a coward. He must be there for a reason that he believes in. You're finding a path forward, but there end up being fewer choices than you think."

Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be released on 14 December in the UK and 15 December in the US.

preview for Star Wars: The Last Jedi (episode 8) first teaser trailer

From: Digital Spy