Star Wars: The Last Jedi - 8 Major Plot Theories You Need To Know

2. Why The Resistance Didn't Show Up To Help On Crait

Star Wars The Last Jedi Trailer Crait
Lucasfilm

At one point, members of the Resistance send out a distress signal to their allies around the galaxy. This signal is ignored, leaving only a small band of fighters to fend off the First Order on Crait.

But why didn't anybody respond to this signal and come to the Resistance's aid? Sure, these allies may have lost hope and simply not wanted to fight, but a much more convincing answer can be found by examining the opening crawl and one of the film's accompanying texts.

One line in the crawl reads as follows:

"Having decimated the peaceful Republic, Supreme Leader Snoke now deploys his merciless legions to seize military control of the galaxy."

This means there are dozens of different First Order groups spread throughout the galaxy, ready to attack and seize control. Wouldn't it then make sense for the Resistance to deploy smaller groups to counter this widespread First Order threat?

Well, yes. And it seems they did. Here's an image from Star Wars: The Last Jedi's Visual Dictionary, which confirms as much...

Star Wars The Last Jedi Visual Dictionary
Dorling Kindersley

Nobody answers the distress signal on Crait because they're too busy battling the First Order's troops on other planets. This might be a revelation that comes in Episode IX, when the crew aboard the Falcon hooks up with other members of the Resistance elsewhere.

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Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.