Star Wars: The Last Jedi came out in December of 2017, and almost immediately, there was a contingent of fans who didn’t like where director Rian Johnson took the story. Johnson, for his part, has never been shy about defending his movie, and is still dropping knowledge bombs to this day.
Case in point: earlier this week, a fan brought up a complaint about Luke Skywalker’s walk in The Last Jedi, and Johnson had something to say about it:
Hot take: Luke is in fact 100% consistent with his character (not the way he’s described in marketing blurbs, but his actual, based-on-his-words-and-actions character) from the OT. I’ll be at the bar if you need me.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) November 5, 2018
Here’s the thing: Johnson is absolutely correct. Throughout the original Star Wars trilogy, Luke battled with the Dark Side of his nature. In The Last Jedi, Luke turns back up as a bitter old hermit who has disconnected himself from the Force and from the rest of the galaxy, because he knows in his arrogance he was the one who allowed the transformation of Ben Solo into Kylo Ren. Luke didn’t get the happy ending some fans may have wanted, but his Last Jedi turn was very much in keeping with what came before.
In The Last Jedi, Luke’s dilemma is clear: If he were to train Rey the same way he did Ben Solo, there could be dire consequences for everyone involved. If anything, Rey presents more of a risk, since she seems more willing than most to explore the darkness within her. That disturbed Luke, which is why he refused to physically leave Ahch-To to help Leia and the Resistance.
Despite the fandom clashing over the film, The Last Jedi grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide, making it a huge box office success. Solo: A Star Wars Story, on the other hand, underperformed, bringing in just under $400 million worldwide. That’s inspired Disney to consider pulling back on its Star Wars output, but as Forbes notes, Solo’s failure may have had more to do with timing than franchise fatigue. As Forbes figures it, the film premiered between Deadpool 2 and Avengers: Infinity War, giving blockbuster-loving viewers little breathing room. Then there’s the contention that it was a standalone movie no one really wanted or cared about in the first place.
After the divisive Last Jedi, J.J. Abrams has returned to the franchise to close out this new trilogy, and according to some number crunching from Forbes, Episode IX should see Star Wars return to box office domination. The final chapter in the sequel trilogy will hit theaters in December of 2019.
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h/t Insider