NOTE: Feel free to try to use this idea in your own fanedits if you like it! I’m not personally going to use it, but I just wanted to put the idea out there for other editors to use.
So, this is an idea I had today. Since Luke behaves so differently in The Last Jedi than his past appearances (in my opinion, no offense to anyone), I thought it might be a good idea to make him a clone in The Last Jedi by adding entirely new dialogue for Snoke in the Throne Room scene. Of course, you’d need a good Snoke impersonator to pull any of this off.
Here’s how it would go:
“Darkness rises, and light to meet it. Skywalker… YOU presumed wrongly.”
“Young fool…you never found the REAL Luke Skywalker.”
Rey is shocked as Snoke laughs.
“Years ago, I called out to Skywalker through the Force, summoning him to Exegol, the lost world of the Sith.”
“Sensing my dark presence, of course he came. But that was his last mistake.”
“That was when I ambushed and KILLED Luke Skywalker.”
Ben slowly looks up, shocked but hiding it well.
“The galaxy would grow suspicious if one of its great heroes suddenly vanished.”
“So I created a clone of Skywalker to replace him. A clone that would not uphold his valiant ideals.”
“To prevent the real Skywalker’s spirit from warning his friends about my trap, I linked his soul to my own, imprisoning him until my demise, whenever it comes.”
“Then I sent the corrupt clone back to the new Jedi Academy, where he slowly began pushing Ben Solo towards the Dark Side.”
“When the clone tried to kill young Solo in his sleep, my plan succeeded.”
“This has all been a game to me!”
“Killing Skywalker, destroying his new Jedi Order, drawing Ben Solo towards his dark destiny, distracting the Resistance with a meaningless search…all just a game.”
“And now, my clone of Skywalker has given me one last gift…he has delivered me the TRUE last Jedi!”
Suddenly, Ben uses the Force to ignite Anakin’s lightsaber, killing Snoke! The rest of the Throne Room scene plays out the same with the Praetorian Guard fight, Ben’s choice, and the hyperspace jump.
Since Luke’s clone is actually not the real one, he never comes to help on Crait, so we cut that entire planet’s sequence. Decimating the Resistance troops on Crait doesn’t matter anyway, since the Resistance is large again in The Rise of Skywalker.
So, after Holdo’s sacrifice, the Resistance ships just fly away. We cut to Ben waking up and declaring himself Supreme Leader to Hux. Then we cut to the heroes in the Falcon, presumably after meeting up elsewhere since they didn’t all escape in the same ship. We cut Rey’s dialogue about Luke dying, and simply have it as “how do we build a Rebellion from this?” and “we have everything we need”.
Then when Luke appears in The Rise of Skywalker, it’s his first real meeting with Rey. His spirit is now free after Snoke’s demise. And since TLJ Luke was a clone, we obviously cut the dialogue about how Luke was wrong.
And when Luke catches the lightsaber and says “A Jedi’s weapon deserves more respect”, he’s actually mocking the impostor clone instead of himself.
There would also have to be some explanation why Luke’s corrupt clone is gone in TROS. Maybe he was at the end of his short clone lifespan anyway so he did Snoke one last favor before dying? Perhaps a new Snoke line mentioning that could also be added.
This idea was for a three-in-one sequel edit, so you’d also have all of Snoke’s TFA dialogue where he’s actually scared of Luke removed, since he knows Luke is already dead. And Rey’s dialogue about Luke not actually finding Exegol in TROS would be gone, since he did find it and died there (in this version).
What do you all think about this idea? Maybe it could work.