Luke Skywalker wanted Leia Organa to be his first Jedi padawan in Lucasfilm’s Star Wars sequel trilogy. Leia, famously played by Carrie Fisher in George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy and Lucasfilm’s sequel movies, discovered that she was Luke’s (Mark Hamill) sister in Richard Marquand’s Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. Audiences, then, assumed Yoda’s quote about there being another hope, another savior, in the galaxy referred to Leia, but that’s not exactly the case.


In J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens and Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, it’s shown that Rey (Daisy Ridley) is the galaxy’s last hope. Although Luke was reluctant to train Rey, she’s more than capable of teaching herself the ways of the Force now that she possesses the ancient Jedi texts (as revealed at the end of Episode VIII). But the thing is, she’s not Luke’s first padawan. The Jedi Master recruited pupils from across the galaxy and begun training a new generation of Jedi between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, including Ben Solo, who later turned to the dark side and assumed the name, Kylo Ren. But before that happened, Leia was supposed to be Luke’s first padawan.


Lucasfilm Story Group head Pablo Hidalgo wrote Star Wars: The Last Jedi – The Visual Dictionary, and it’s revealed in the book that Luke asked Leia to be his first Jedi padawan when he opened his Jedi Academy. Unfortunately, Leia turned him down due to her responsibilities with the new Galactic Republic.

“Skywalker’s first student was to be his sister, Leia. However, she ultimately decided that the best path for her to serve the galaxy left no room for the extended isolation of Jedi training. As Leia on her new family and senatorial politics, Luke began his travels, largely disappearing from galactic view. During his lengthy journey, Skywalker gathered disciples who would go on to become his first true students.”

Although Leia didn’t train with Luke to become a Jedi herself, she did develop a wide variety of Force powers. She can seemingly communicate with those closest to her, such as her son, Ben, and of course, Luke. But her most prominent power is perhaps her most controversial: surviving in space. In The Last Jedi, the Raddus‘ bridge is destroyed with Leia on it. While everyone else, including Admiral Ackbar, perishes in the explosion, Leia somehow manages to survive and subsequently pulls herself back to the ship using the Force.


Considering that Fisher passed away in 2016, Leia will no longer be part of Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX, and so the iconic character, as well as her newfound Force powers, won’t be developed any further in Lucasfilm’s forthcoming final chapter in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. However, that doesn’t mean Abrams won’t introduce a variety of new powers of his own creation.