Mention Rian Johnson to Star Wars fans, and the reaction will be divisive. He wrote and directed The Last Jedi, one of the most hotly debated Star Wars movies. Some enjoy it for daring to deconstruct the mythos of Star Wars, some wild battle sequences, bumping off a major character, and a fun ending. Others loathe it for its treatment of Luke Skywalker, weak ending for Captain Phasma, and some of the exact same elements others praise it for.
Despite all that, at ione point Johnson was going to direct a possible new trilogy. First announced shortly before The Last Jedi premiered in 2017, there hasn’t been much movement since, or any details about it. The closest he’s come was hinting it would take place in a part of the galaxy not explored before in Star Wars lore with original characters.
Like many other Star Wars projects, progress has stalled on Johnson's trilogy to the point it’s hard to know if it’s going to happen. In a talk with Rolling Stone, Johnson gave an update on how things are going:
"Nothing really happened with it. We had a great time working together, and they said, ‘Let’s keep doing it.’ I said, ‘Great!’ I would kick ideas around with [Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy]. The short version is Knives Out happened. I went off and made Knives Out, and was off to the races, busy making murder mysteries…It was all very conceptual. I made Knives Out fairly quickly after. There was never any outline or treatment or anything."
One wonders how Johnson’s career would have gone if Knives Out hadn’t become such a big hit. The 2019 all-star murder mystery became a smash with both audiences and critics alike, with Daniel Craig turning in a winning performance as quirky master detective Benoit Blanc. Its success would inspire a franchise beginning with 2022’s Glass Onion and the upcoming Wake Up Dead Man.
With those films requiring so much work as writer, director and producer, it’s no surprise that Johnson doesn’t have time for a project on the level of Star Wars. That he never had a serious idea for the trilogy in the first place is another reason it hasn't gotten properly underway.
Rian Johnson used to hate the Star Wars prequel trilogy?
Johnson has reflected on the backlash against The Last Jedi, noting that in the early 2000s, “my friends and I were Prequel Hate Central. Everyone was ruthless at the time.” Now, with Star Wars fans looking back on the prequels more kindly, Johnson believes a similar fate may befall the sequel movies.
Johnson added that, contrary to popular belief, he and J.J. Abrams — who directed the first and third of the Star Wars sequel movies — did communicate on overall plans despite claims that Johnson just ignored what went before. “Ultimately, I feel like the choices in it, none of them were born out of an intent to 'undo' anything," Johnson said. "They were all borne out of the opposite intent of, how do I take this story that J.J. wrote, that I really loved, and these characters he created that I really loved, and take them to the next step?”
Johnson also claimed he had a great time watching The Rise of Skywalker and didn’t seem bothered by Abrams undoing some of his story arcs from The Last Jedi, like the reveal about Rey’s parents. He still seems open to return to this project even as he focuses on the Knives Out movies.
The Last Jedi is streaming on Disney+.
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