Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi Film Synopsis

As a relentless enemy tracks a fleeing fleet across the stars, a reluctant legend is sought, a daring infiltration is attempted, and a fragile spark of hope is carried from a salted battlefield. Sacrifice, failure, and renewed faith shape a final escape that keeps rebellion alive against impossible odds.

Evacuation from D’Qar and the Dreadnought Gambit

In the aftermath of the destruction of Starkiller Base, the Resistance begins an urgent evacuation from its headquarters on D’Qar. Before the last transports can clear the atmosphere, a First Order armada led by General Armitage Hux drops out of hyperspace. Among the arriving ships is the Mandator IV–class siege dreadnought Fulminatrix, whose heavy batteries are designed to annihilate capital ships and ground installations from extreme range. A lone X-wing—Black Leader Poe Dameron’s fighter, assisted by BB-8—approaches the dreadnought and, under cover of a mocking comm with Hux, disables the vessel’s surface point-defense cannons at close range.

General Leia Organa orders a withdrawal once the Resistance transports lift off, but Poe presses a full assault despite her command to disengage. A formation of RZ-2 A-wings and T-70 X-wings screens a wave of MG-100 StarFortress bombers toward the dreadnought. TIE/fo and TIE/sf fighters tear through the unwieldy bombers, and many craft are lost. The final surviving bomber, Cobalt Hammer, is kept in the fight by gunner Paige Tico, who, after the pilot and bombardier are incapacitated, releases the payload at the last moment. The Fulminatrix is destroyed, but the Resistance bomber wing is wiped out. Leia demotes Poe for disobeying orders, recognizing the price of the pyrrhic victory. The fleet jumps to hyperspace.

A Pursuit That Should Be Impossible

Supreme Leader Snoke publicly shames Hux for allowing the escape and the dreadnought’s loss, yet the First Order reappears from hyperspace directly behind the fleeing Resistance. It is revealed through the fleet’s behavior that the First Order is tracking them through lightspeed, a feat presumed impossible. The MC85 flagship Raddus and its few remaining escorts cannot outrun Snoke’s Super Star Destroyer-scale flagship, the Supremacy, and its screen of Star Destroyers; however, the Resistance can remain just outside effective turbolaser range so long as shields and fuel hold.

Kylo Ren leads an attack in his TIE silencer, accompanied by Special Forces TIEs. During the strike, the Raddus’ primary hangar is obliterated, destroying the ready X-wing complement and killing multiple pilots. Kylo hesitates to fire on the bridge when he senses Leia’s presence, but his wingmates launch the torpedoes that shatter the command deck, killing Admiral Ackbar and much of the senior staff. Leia is blown into space, then survives by drawing on the Force to return to the ruined bridge, after which she falls into a coma. Command temporarily passes to Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo. Fuel dwindles. The First Order maintains the steady, strangling pursuit.

Ahch-To: A Legend Who Refuses the Call

Meanwhile, on the ocean world of Ahch-To, Rey arrives on the Millennium Falcon with Chewbacca and R2-D2 and presents Luke Skywalker with his old lightsaber. The legendary Jedi, now reclusive, discards the weapon and withdraws. Rey presses him for help, and Chewbacca forces a conversation. Upon learning of Han Solo’s death, Luke remains unmoved from his vow to end the Jedi Order and die in exile. R2 plays Leia’s archival plea to Obi-Wan Kenobi, which softens Luke’s stance; he agrees to offer Rey three lessons—ostensibly to teach her why the Jedi should end.

Luke’s first instruction reframes the Force not as a power that belongs to the Jedi but as an energy that binds life and death, light and dark, and all living things. Rey reaches out and is pulled toward a cavern on the island that is strong in the dark side. Luke, sensing an untrained power he once witnessed in Ben Solo, recoils and refuses to continue.

Snoke’s Disdain and Kylo’s Rage

Aboard the Supremacy, Kylo Ren is chastised by Snoke, who derides him as a child in a mask and claims the murder of Han Solo fractured rather than cemented his resolve. Humiliated, Kylo shatters his helmet and returns to battle bare-faced. The First Order’s strategy remains relentless: maintain the pursuit, wait for Resistance shields to fail, and finish the escapees.

Command Fractures and a Desperate Plan

With Leia incapacitated, Vice Admiral Holdo assumes overall command of the Resistance. Her plan is withheld from most personnel. Poe, still smarting from demotion, confronts her for details and receives none; he reads the refueling of transports as abandonment. In the escape-pod bay, Finn awakens from his Starkiller injuries, meets mechanic Rose Tico—Paige’s sister—and is stunned when caught trying to flee to find Rey. He explains a different intent: disable the tracker that is allowing the First Order to shadow the fleet through hyperspace. With Poe’s quiet support and C-3PO’s reluctant assistance, Finn and Rose contact Maz Kanata for help. She directs them to a master codebreaker on the casino world of Cantonica, in Canto Bight, capable of getting them into the Supremacy to switch off the tracker. Secretly, Poe sends them in a pod while Holdo’s staff remains unaware.

Canto Bight: Glamour, Exploitation, and a Slicer

Finn, Rose, and BB-8 reach Canto Bight and are arrested for a minor docking infraction before meeting the recommended contact. In jail they encounter a stuttering slicer who calls himself DJ. He offers his services for a price. BB-8 assists in their escape; a stampede of fathiers released by stable children covers their flight. DJ, BB-8, Finn, and Rose steal a luxury yacht and set course for the Supremacy. DJ remarks with nihilistic calm that both sides profit the same brokers and arms dealers, exposing the ship’s former owner as a supplier to both First Order and Resistance.

Unwanted Connections and the Cave

Back on Ahch-To, a mysterious bond manifests between Rey and Kylo Ren, allowing them to see and speak to each other across space. The two react with hostility, curiosity, and guarded candor. Rey demands to understand why Kylo killed Han; Kylo counters with accusations about Luke and parental failures. Drawn by the call of the island’s dark nexus, Rey descends into a mirror-like grotto seeking the truth of her parentage. The vision returns only her own reflection, offering no identity beyond herself. She returns to Luke and presses him for the history of his falling out with Ben Solo. Luke initially frames the event as a confrontation with a student turned suddenly murderous; later, after Rey’s anger boils over and she bests him in a brief fight, he admits to a fleeting impulse to strike Ben down after sensing darkness within him, an impulse that passed as soon as it formed. Ben awoke to see Luke standing over him with an ignited saber, interpreted a death sentence, destroyed the temple, and fled with students. Luke’s shame drove him into seclusion.

Rey concludes that Ben Solo can be redeemed. Luke refuses to leave, warning her her expectations will fail. She departs Ahch-To to confront Kylo herself, convinced that he will turn.

Masters and Failure

After Rey’s departure, Luke approaches the ancient tree library with a torch to destroy the Jedi texts and end the order’s lineage. The Force spirit of Yoda appears and calls down lightning to burn the tree himself. In the firelight, Yoda counsels that failure is the greatest teacher, that attachment to old texts and legend blinds, and that students must grow beyond their masters. The lesson reframes Luke’s paralysis and sets the stage for a different form of action.

Infiltration of the Supremacy and Poe’s Mutiny

DJ infiltrates the Supremacy’s security with Finn and Rose disguised as officers while BB-8 rolls under a laundry bin. A First Order droid, BB-9E, spots them and alerts security. Before the team reaches the tracker’s inner chamber, troopers and Captain Phasma’s unit arrest them. DJ is separated for negotiation.

On the Raddus, Poe learns that Holdo is fueling transports to flee and believes this to be cowardice. He stages a mutiny, stuns bridge personnel, and seizes control of the emergency command deck to buy time for Finn and Rose. Leia awakens, stuns Poe herself, and reveals the true plan: the transports will slip away to a hidden Rebel base on the mineral world Crait while the Raddus continues as a decoy. Holdo remains behind to pilot the flagship.

A Captive in Snoke’s Throne Room

Rey arrives in a jettison pod from the Falcon and surrenders to Kylo Ren, who escorts her to Snoke. The Supreme Leader claims authorship of the Force-bond between Rey and Kylo, flaunts his knowledge and power, and ransacks Rey’s mind to discover Luke’s location. He intends to destroy Luke and the Jedi immediately and commands Kylo to execute Rey. Behind the throne, the Resistance fleet’s plight is displayed; transports begin to be picked off when DJ, having bargained for payment and freedom, sells out Finn and Rose and reveals the evacuation plan to Hux.

Executioner troopers prepare to behead Finn and Rose in the hangar. Hux orders the batteries to fire on the unshielded transports, and casualties mount. The Resistance appears doomed.

The Fall of a Supreme Leader and a Shattered Saber

Snoke, convinced he reads his apprentice’s intent perfectly, narrates Kylo’s killing stroke. Kylo instead turns the Skywalker lightsaber at Snoke through the Force and ignites it, bisecting the Supreme Leader. The Elite Praetorian Guards attack. Rey and Kylo fight back-to-back in a frantic melee and defeat the guards. In the quiet that follows, Kylo urges Rey to abandon all institutions—Jedi, Sith, Resistance, First Order—and rule the galaxy with him. He forces Rey to confront what she has suspected: her parents were nobodies who sold her for drink and lie forgotten in Jakku’s sands. Rey refuses to join him. They tug-of-war over the Skywalker saber with the Force until it detonates between them, the crystal’s strain tearing the hilt apart.

Holdo’s Gambit and the Breaking of the Supremacy

As transports die and hope thins, Vice Admiral Holdo turns the mostly empty Raddus toward the Supremacy. In a single, devastating move, she jumps to lightspeed through Snoke’s flagship. The collision cleaves the Supremacy and shreds much of its escort in a silent shock that freezes the battle across space. The blast wave tears apart the hangar, halting Finn and Rose’s execution. In the chaos, BB-8 commandeers an AT-ST and covers their escape. Captain Phasma confronts Finn; amid exploding decks and collapsing gantries, he defeats her. Phasma falls into the flames below. Finn, Rose, and BB-8 steal a shuttle and flee toward Crait.

On the ruined throne-room floor, Hux finds Snoke’s corpse and an unconscious Kylo. When Kylo wakes, he claims Rey killed Snoke, asserts command as Supreme Leader, and chokes Hux into compliance.

Crait: A Last Stand on a Salt Plain

The surviving transports reach an old Rebel outpost carved into the crystal-salt caverns of Crait. A single blast door guards the tunnel complex; the base’s old equipment yields only a handful of antiquated ski speeders. Leia, Poe, and the remaining leaders broadcast a general distress call to allies across the Outer Rim. No replies come.

Kylo arrives with AT-ATs, towering AT-M6s, and a superlaser siege cannon capable of breaching the blast door. The Resistance launches the ski speeders to delay the cannon’s range finding. TIEs rip through the thin force. The Falcon, with Chewbacca at the controls and Rey on the guns, dives into the chase to draw the fighters off and relieve pressure on the skirmish line. Seeing the cannon charging, Poe orders a retreat. Finn continues alone in a straight run toward the aperture, prepared to sacrifice himself; Rose rams his speeder aside at the last moment, saving him as the cannon fires and blasts the gate.

Stormtroopers form for an assault. Inside, hope falters as the distress call goes unanswered. The vulptices—crystal foxes native to the tunnels—slip through crevices that living beings cannot navigate. Poe realizes the creatures have found a way out, but the exit is blocked by boulders on the far side.

The Return of a Legend

Luke Skywalker enters the base, greets Leia, and offers an apology for the past. A pair of Han’s sabacc dice is placed in her hand. Luke walks alone through the blown gate to confront the enemy on the salt plain. Kylo, enraged at the sight of his uncle, orders all walkers to fire. Luke steps unharmed from the crater and brushes dust from his shoulder. Kylo lands to face him personally.

As Kylo and Luke exchange strikes—Luke miraculously evading every blow inside the drifting red salt—the Resistance follows the vulptices to a fissure sealed by a rockfall. On the outside, Rey locates the boulder pile through her beacon’s link to Leia. Drawing deeply on the Force, Rey lifts the field of stones, opening the path. The survivors flee to the waiting Falcon. Finn carries an injured Rose to safety. Poe recognizes the duel as a diversion; Luke is buying them time.

Kylo drives forward and pierces Luke at last—only to discover the blade passes through a projected image. Luke’s true body remains seated in meditation on Ahch-To, projecting himself across the galaxy. He tells his nephew that striking him down will not end the Jedi, that he will haunt Kylo as did Han. The illusion fades. On Ahch-To’s cliff, Luke gazes at a twin sunset and, spent by the projection, becomes one with the Force. Leia and Rey feel his passing. Kylo’s troops storm the empty base. The Falcon blasts clear with the Resistance remnant aboard.

The Spark Survives

Aboard the Falcon, the survivors tally their numbers—painfully few. Finn watches over Rose. Rey regards the broken Skywalker saber, now just a ruined hilt with a split crystal inside, and mourns the loss of the mentor she found and the hope he represented. Leia reassures her: peace has come to Luke, and what remains is enough to begin again. Poe and Rey finally meet; a new cadre coalesces around Leia.

On Cantonica, the story of Luke’s stand spreads among the stable children. As the overseer barks orders, the boy Temiri Blagg slips outside, idly reaches for a broom that jumps to his hand, and looks up at the stars while a Resistance ring gleams on his finger. The spark is kept alive in anonymity, hinting at a future yet to be written.