Lynn Margulis proposed the idea that our mitochondria were once free-living bacteria before they became an integral component of our cells. Many life forms on our planet produce ATP in cellular compartments called mitochondria. Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) explains midi-chlorians in _Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Midi-chlorians were presented as a life form that lived inside the cells of all living creatures, and that the potential to sense and use the Force was intimately tied to their numbers. When I first watched Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in 1999, and “midi-chlorians” were mentioned, I was intrigued. More than two decades later, another possibility arose. The Force is described to Luke in the original Star Wars as the source of a Jedi knight’s powers, “an energy field created by all living things” that binds us and the galaxy together, and derided by an Imperial officer as “sorcerer’s way” and an “ancient religion.” Taken together, it led many to conclude that the Force was a mystical, paranormal power. This raises an obvious question: What is the Force and where does it come from? Star Wars: The Last Jedi follows the journey of Rey as the heroine discovers and learns about the Force, just as her teacher Luke Skywalker and his father Anakin did in the Galactic Rebellion and Clone Wars (more on this later).

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