A newly updated Star Wars reference book confirms that Luke Skywalker, at some point after the events of the original trilogy, learned about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor protagonist Cal Kestis and his master. It could be the first tease toward the two Jedi meeting in a future show, cartoon, game, or other pieces of Star Wars media.
On May 12, Lucasfilm and Disney released the reference book Star Wars: The Secrets of the Jedi: The Chronicles of Luke Skywalker. This is an updated version of a previously released Jedi reference book from 2019, and it contains new pieces of information and connections to recent shows and games. As spotted by one Star Wars fan, a new, expanded journal entry from Luke Skywalker written in the year 34ABY (around the events of The Last Jedi) has the legendary hero directly referencing Kestis surviving Order 66.
“A small handful of Jedi managed to escape execution, such as Master Jaro Tapal’s Padawan Cal Kestis…”
So what does this mean? Well, at the very least, it means that Kestis surviving after Order 66 is something Luke was aware of. But you can also read into this a bit more, which I’m going to do. I think it is interesting that Luke not only knows that Kestis survived, but that his master didn’t, and that our favorite farm boy-turned-Jedi knows Tapal’s name. Maybe, in his years of researching the Jedi Order and working with the Rebellion and later the Resistance, Luke learned about Kestis and Tapal. If that’s the case, this is just a fun Easter egg and doesn’t mean much.
But if we assume it’s more, it could imply that at some point following the events of Return of the Jedi (after Yoda tells him he’s the last of the Jedi…) Luke runs into Kestis and chats with the red-headed Jedi. The Star Wars Jedi hero would be about a decade or so older than him and the more experienced Force user at that point. Perhaps Kestis even helps Luke create the small Jedi academy we see flashes of in the Sequel Trilogy. Though this would step on Yoda’s line in Return of the Jedi, where he calls Luke the last of the Jedi. (But Ahsoka, Ezra, and a few other characters sort of screw that line up anyway, depending on how you look at it.)
Less likely is Luke meeting up with Kestis any earlier than 4ABY, as that would mean the meeting happened during the era of the Original Trilogy, and I just don’t think that works for Luke’s character and motivation. Or maybe he found a holotape of Cal Kestis and his wicked cool lightsaber that changes colors and got jealous about it? Anything is possible in the wild world of Star Wars.