As much as we all enjoyed Rouge One, it’s now time look ahead and begin the countdown to Star Wars Episode VIII – The Last Jedi.

Already?

Well let’s face it, we’re probably only months away from the first teaser. It’s hard to believe now but we all gasped at the first Force Awakens teaser trailer in November 2014, a whole year before the movie arrived in cinemas.

The second teaser followed in April 2015, with the full trailer appearing in October that year.

We’ve all discussed by now the meaning of Episode VIII’s cryptic title. Whatever the actual meaning, I think we’ve overlooked someone – Finn.

OK, Finn isn’t a Jedi, but neither is Rey and I think he may yet surprise us. Considering the discovery of Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber was for Rey’s benefit, Finn ended up using the saber in two fights.

The movie clearly showed Rey’s natural affinity with the force and she is likely to be the leading Jedi protagonist in the future. Finn however also demonstrated several moments of potential.

The main event that should make us ponder Finn’s force sensitivity was when he refused to murder the villagers on Jakku. Was that just a moment of self doubt or was the force speaking to him? Later, Maz Kanata encourages him to use the lightsaber in the battle on Takodana and Finn does a decent job of fighting Kylo Ren outside of StarKiller base.

The old Expanded Universe and the Clone Wars showed us that may Jedi were not warriors. Some Jedi expressed their skills through healing, communication, scholarship and teaching.

With Yoda, Luke, Obi-Wan, Palpatine and Vader we’ve become used to seeing the galaxy’s most powerful force users at work. Anakin was perhaps the most powerful of all Jedi?

My point is that Finn may have the ability to use the force, and perhaps under different circumstances would have become a Jedi. Just because he’s not using mind control tricks without any training like Rey, it doesn’t mean that he’s not Jedi material.

If we’re talking probabilities here, I’d say that Finn won’t be using the force this December.

We know that Episode VIII will continue from where the last movie left off, so any journey to become a Jedi is going to take time.

Perhaps Finn’s journey with the Force will be one of the story arcs of the trilogy? Perhaps like Leia he might choose not to become a Jedi and simply continue to serve in the only way he knows.

What I do know is that Finn’s journey in the next two films, along with Rey, Poe and Kylo Ren isn’t going to leave us disappointed.

Bring on the teaser!

Footnote:

StarWars.com’s Databank describes Finn thus:

“FN-2187 was trained since birth to serve the First Order as a stormtrooper, but a skirmish on Jakku awakened his conscience and drove him down a different path, one that proved both heroic and dangerous. He helped Poe Dameron escape the First Order – picking up the nickname Finn in doing so – and then sought his own freedom alongside Rey and BB-8.”