Summary

• Star Wars missed their chance to show Luke's Jedi Academy story, but they have another chance to do so through a different character.
• Rey will build her own Jedi Academy in the New Jedi Order movie, which will no doubt be based on what Luke did in the past.
• Rey carries on Luke's legacy, learning from his lessons and his past mistakes - which means his story will indirectly be told through Rey.

There's one key Luke Skywalker story that Star Wars missed their chance to tell, but they can still do so again with Luke's former student, Rey Skywalker. As the central character of the original Star Wars trilogy, Luke's storied life in the galaxy is packed full of important stories - but there's one vast part of his lifetime that has yet to be fully documented in canon. This void, which stretches between Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the Star Wars timeline, details Luke's most important character growth: his role as a Jedi Master.

As the Jedi who helped to save the galaxy and then tasked himself with rebuilding the Jedi Order, this is easily Luke's most important story. There have been small pieces of it scattered throughout Star Wars canon, from bits seen in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett to some books and comics, but nothing substantial that has detailed Luke re-establishing the Jedi Order. With the sequel trilogy jumping right to Rey's era, well after Luke's Jedi Academy was destroyed, it's clear that Star Wars missed their chance to tell this story - or have they?

Star Wars Wasted Luke's Jedi Academy Story

His Efforts To Rebuild The Order Are Never Fully Seen

Making this leap ahead in the Star Wars timeline for the sequel trilogy, with little to no prior supplemental material, unfortunately wasted the opportunity to tell the most vital part of Luke's story: rebuilding the Jedi Order. While Star Wars Legends had very detailed s of how Luke built the New Jedi Order, Star Wars glazed over this potential and instead focused on a new era with new characters. This was refreshing, to say the least, but it also came at the cost of denying Star Wars audiences a chance to see Luke in his prime.

Had Star Wars shown Luke truly establishing his Academy and thus the new Jedi Order, it may have helped viewers to accept who he became later on in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Again, there are various glimpses at this in Star Wars now, though they are few and far-between. Grogu's training with Luke is short-lived in The Book of Boba Fett, taking place at the very beginning of the Jedi Temple on Ossus' construction, and Grogu's gone before Luke can even recruit anyone else. Had Star Wars shown Luke truly establishing his Academy and thus the new Jedi Order, it may have helped viewers to accept who he became later on in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This story of rebuilding the Jedi Order, however, can still be told in Star Wars.

Rey's New Jedi Order Will Finally Feature A Jedi Academy

Rey Will Build Her Own Jedi Academy

Star Wars can still tell the story of a blossoming Jedi Academy with Rey, who will be returning in the Star Wars: New Jedi Order movie. At the end of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Rey has a new path set before her. Between Finn's own Force-sensitivity and that of the other former stormtroopers like Jannah, Rey has plenty of potential students already for a new Jedi Order. This is the only plot point that's known for certain so far in Rey's movie, and it will no doubt build upon what would have been done for Luke.

Rey Will On What She Learned... Including From Luke

Rey Has Learned From His Accomplishments & His Mistakes

Rey is the one who currently carries Luke's legacy as his last student, considering she's been impacted enough by Luke to have adopted his family name as her own. She won't only be taking what she learned from him directly, however; Rey can also heed the warnings Luke gave her of the Jedi Order that preceded his own. The Rise of Skywalker saw Rey create a connection with all the Jedi of the past, and if Rey can somehow cultivate that connection once again, she may be prone to even more wisdom than what Luke would have had before.

As a Jedi Master, Rey will be reluctant to give up on anyone, no matter how hard fear tries to cloud her judgment.

The goal of master-apprentice relationships is for the apprentice to take what they learn from the master and make it even better. Rey is thus in a position where she can learn not only from what Luke did right, but also from what he did wrong. Her connection with Ben, formerly Kylo Ren, and her determination to redeem him has already proven that Rey's Jedi Order will look different from Luke's - but only in the best way. As a Jedi Master, Rey will be reluctant to give up on anyone, no matter how hard fear tries to cloud her judgment.

While it's disappointing, even heartbreaking, that viewers will likely never get to see Luke re-establish his Jedi Order, his legacy will live on as Rey does the same. This is perhaps the best choice; knowing how revered Luke is as a character, any choices made about him and his Jedi Academy could have been highly debated amongst viewers, especially considering how dense that time period and storyline is in Legends. With Rey at the helm, Star Wars can now tell this story on their own , with plenty of Luke's influence still involved.