Did Luminara Unduli Survive Order 66? Canon vs Legends

In current canon, Luminara Unduli did not die on the battlefield when Order 66 hit at Kashyyyk. The Empire took her prisoner, executed her in a cell on Stygeon Prime and kept her remains. In Star Wars Legends, the old continuity, her death is simpler: her own troops shoot her down on Kashyyyk. (Star Wars Rebels; Legends: Revenge of the Sith comic adaptation)

What happens to her in canon?#

Kashyyyk's battle was under way when Palpatine, as Darth Sidious, gave the order. The wiki's account has her on the beach, organising the search for wounded, when the clones turned on her and on the Wookiees who ran to help. She evaded the fate many Jedi met. Many assumed for years that her troops had shot her there. She had in fact been arrested. (Wookieepedia, canon article; Star Wars Rebels)

She was held briefly in the Spire, a prison on Stygeon Prime, then killed in her cell while the Grand Inquisitor looked on. He kept her remains for the Empire's later purposes. So the honest answer to "did she survive Order 66" is yes, for a while, and no, in the sense that matters. (Wookieepedia, canon article)

Where did the rumours that she was alive come from?#

From the Empire. The wiki says rumours of her survival were still around in 5 BBY. In Star Wars Rebels, Gall Trayvis, once an Imperial Senator and secretly working for the Empire, hacked a HoloNet News broadcast to claim she was a prisoner somewhere in the Stygeon system. (Star Wars Rebels, "Rise of the Old Masters")

Kanan Jarrus had known her as a youngling called Caleb Dume and remembered her as brave, compassionate and disciplined. He and Ezra Bridger went into the Spire to find her. They found a cell where she seemed to be held, and sensed something was off. The figure was a hologram. It vanished into a wall case that held her desiccating remains, and the Inquisitor stepped out to kill them. The rebels escaped, and Kanan resolved to tell others she was dead, so the lure would stop working. (Star Wars Rebels, "Rise of the Old Masters")

What happens to her in Legends?#

Legends is blunter. Once the fighting died down, her troops stood around her as she got ready to help heal the wounded, and Order 66 came in. Troopers under Faie's command hit her in the chest before she could draw her lightsaber. The Legends article cites the Dark Horse Revenge of the Sith adaptation, issue 3, for the date and place of her death, and the Republic comic arc The Hidden Enemy for how she was shot. (Wookieepedia, Legends article; The Hidden Enemy)

Afterwards, Legends has the Empire cover it up. Imperial records put together by Sate Pestage said she had been executed for heading a plot against the Republic. Eight months later, the Wookiee Chak made a memorial for the Jedi who fell on Kashyyyk, and her image sat above Quinlan Vos and next to Yoda's. (Wookieepedia, Legends article; The Hidden Enemy)

What about the film?#

She appears in Revenge of the Sith, played by Fay David. The wiki notes that her death in the Order 66 sequence was planned but dropped, as were the deaths of Barriss Offee and Shaak Ti, and that the plan was to reuse leftover Attack of the Clones footage. So the film never shows her dying, which left room for both continuities. (Wookieepedia, canon article)

My read#

I think the canon version is the better story. A cut death scene would have been a footnote. Turning her into bait gives the Grand Inquisitor something cruel to do, and it gives Kanan a reason to learn that he can train Ezra himself. The wiki says that lesson is exactly what the trap taught him. (Star Wars Rebels)

Timeline#

1. 19 BBY: Order 66 is issued during the Battle of Kashyyyk. Legends has her die here.
2. 19 to 18 BBY: canon has her taken to the Spire on Stygeon Prime and executed.
3. By 5 BBY: rumours that she is alive are circulating. The Rebels trap, set with a faked broadcast, draws Kanan and Ezra to Stygeon Prime.
4. 35 ABY: her voice is among those that encourage Rey on Exegol. (The Rise of Skywalker)

For her whole career, including her Padawan and her duels with Asajj Ventress, see the Luminara Unduli page. Another Jedi caught by the same order is covered in how Aayla Secura died, and the wider war is on the Clone Wars page.