'The Last Jedi' Ending Almost Cut The Mysterious Broom Boy

Spoiler alert for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Everyone wants to know: who is Broom Boy, and when can he sweep my floors? By now, we all know that the ending of Star Wars: The Last Jedi doesn't feature an established character in the Star Wars universe, but rather a mysterious young boy on Canto Bight. While this moment packs an emotional punch, it left a few people scratching their heads. Below, director Rian Johnson describes how he almost cut the Broom Boy moment from The Last Jedi ending. Almost.

Right then, let's get this out of the way: the Broom Boy at the end of The Last Jedi is not meant to be a new main character in the saga. Star Wars: Episode IX is not going to be about the characters flying back to Canto Bight to recruit Broom Boy to be their new chosen one. That is not what Rian Johnson was going for with the ending of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I only bring this up because I've seen several sites theorizing as to the identity of the one they call Broom Boy, and his larger place in the Star Wars galaxy as a whole. But don't take my word for it: listen to director Rian Johnson himself. Speaking with Empire, Johnson explained both the use of the character in the film, and his early decision to not include Broom Boy at all.

"To me, it was really important to have that final scene, because it turns what Luke did from an act that saves 20 people into an act that inspires the galaxy. The notion that what we're setting up here is something big in the next chapter. And when Leia says, 'we have everything we need,' she's talking about everyone on the Falcon, but also about what we see next, which is we now have a galaxy that has seen this beacon of hope and is getting inspired to fight the good fight."

In case you need a reminder, at the end of The Last Jedi, after Leia, Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose, Chewie, the Porgs and more members of the Resistance blast off into the galaxy, having escaped the occasionally shirtless Kylo Ren, the film cuts back to Canto Bight, where a group of dirty urchin children are reveling in a story about the late, great Luke Skywalker. One of those kids, who has forever been blessed with the nickname Broom Boy, eventually goes outside to sweep up. He looks up at the stars, clutching his broom like a lightsaber (which he picks up using subtle Force powers), and the galaxy stretches vast and wide above him. Cue the John Williams music.

Johnson adds that he originally thought about ending the film a beat earlier, with the Resistance gathered together on the Falcon. "That was something I really stuck to, and believe me, we went back and forth in the editing room. In the script, when I wrote that scene in the Falcon, I wrote the words, 'this seems like the perfect image to end on,'" he says. Ultimately, though, he stuck with Broom Boy. With this final moment, Johnson is expanding the Star Wars universe in a clever, concise way. As he says in the quote above, "we now have a galaxy that has seen this beacon of hope and is getting inspired to fight the good fight."

That said, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before there is an entire spin-off comic book about Broom Boy, and his many sweeping adventures.