The news broke mere weeks before the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Lucasfilm and Disney had rehired writer-director Rian Johnson to make a new trilogy of Star Wars films, marking the ultimate vote of confidence in his upcoming eighth chapter in the saga. Excitement could not have been higher. And while, for some, the film’s bold, surprising take on Star Wars lived up to that, for others, it did not.
The weeks, months, and now years since the release of The Last Jedi have seen Lucasfilm scrambling over where to go next in a galaxy far, far away. Johnson’s trilogy all but evaporated, and announcement after announcement of new movies suffered similar fates. Next year, the release of a movie version of a TV show that was still two years from existence at that time will mark the first Star Wars movie since the conclusion of the sequel trilogy. A trilogy whose final film was put into disarray by the polarizing reaction to Johnson’s work.
But, for Johnson himself, he looks back on that time and everything that’s come since with positivity. Speaking at Newport Beach Film Festival this week, Johnson (who did go on to make a new trilogy, just of Knives Out films) was asked if the fan reaction to The Last Jedi was responsible for him not making new Star Wars films.
“No, not at all,” he said. “In fact, it’s the reason that I wanted to. My overall experience with putting the movie out, and what you’re talking about with fan feedback… I mean, first of all, I’m a lifelong Star Wars fan. So I know the deal. I know that Star Wars fans are passionate about this stuff. We love the stuff we love, we hate the stuff we hate, and we fight about it. And that’s been happening since the original trilogy. I was in college when the prequels came out. Are you kidding me? The prequel wars? We had a few. I mean, everybody did. And so, the notion that Star Wars has been this kind of Shangri-La, united fandom, and that [nothing] could then split that apart [is false]. The reality is Star Wars has always been something that has meant different things to different people. And I think that’s part of the fun and the passion of it as fans, is arguing about it respectfully.”
“I’ve talked to so many people over the years, since we made that movie, who have such deep connections to Star Wars and who have deep connections to that movie,” Johnson continued. “And so it’s been the most positive experience I’ve ever had with anything I’ve made, in terms of interacting with people who’ve seen it. I came out at the other end of it loving Star Wars fandom more than I did even going into it.”
We may never know exactly what happened with Johnson’s Star Wars movies, and, in fact, he often says he’d love to make them one day. But that all this time later he can look back on the experience as a positive is a testament to why he would have been a great person to entrust those movies to.
You can watch the full discussion, thanks to Star Wars Culture, at the link below. The above quote comes in the last two minutes.
Writer/Director @rianjohnson Discusses #StarWars: #TheLastJedi At The Newport Beach Film Festival 🎬 pic.twitter.com/MvJX46xpFl
— Star Wars Culture (@SWCultureLive) November 5, 2025
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