By George & Josh Bate
The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson recently sat down with Rolling Stone for a sprawling chat about his career, hot on the heels of the new season of Peacock’s Poker Face. In the interview, Johnson reflects on The Last Jedi eight years after its release, gives his honest opinion about The Rise of Skywalker and the prequels, provides an update about his Star Wars trilogy, justifies the decision to kill Snoke, and more. Check out highlights from the interview below.
Despite being loved by many critics and fans, The Last Jedi faced scrutiny from some for its perceived divergence from themes and plots established by JJ Abrams in The Force Awakens. In the new intervention, Johnson explains that he did not try to “undo anything” from The Force Awakens.
“Ultimately, I feel like the choices in [The Last Jedi], none of them were born out of an intent to ‘undo’ anything. 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?”
One of the more controversial decisions in The Last Jedi was the murder of Snoke, who JJ Abrams had set up in The Force Awakens as the sequel trilogy’s equivalent of Emperor Palpatine. Johnson explained his reasoning for killing Snoke in the interview.
“This is all a matter of perspective and phrasing, but to me, I didn’t easily dispense with Snoke. I took great pains to use him in the most dramatically impactful way I could, which was to then take Kylo’s character to the next level and set him up as well as I possibly could. I guess it all comes down to your point of view. I thought, ‘This is such a compelling and complicated villain. This is this is who it makes sense going forward to build around.’”
While directing The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson was rumored to also helm the follow-up Episode IX. However, Johnson confirms that he was never going to direct what eventually became The Rise of Skywalker.
“No, absolutely not. The reality is, if I thought I was doing both of them, I would have ended [VIII] the same way. From the very start, the assignment was doing VIII & another director would do IX.”
Despite JJ Abrams’ decision to take The Rise of Skywalker in a different direction from The Last Jedi, Johnson stated that he had “a great time” watching the final installment of the Skywalker saga.
“I had a great time watching it…JJ did the same thing with the 3rd that I did with the 2nd, which is not digging it up & undoing-just telling the story the way that was most compelling going forward…I didn’t feel resentful in some way…It’s all stuff I love”
Many have speculated that, much like the prequels, The Last Jedi will be positively re-evaluated year after its release. In the new interview, Johnson commented on his initial distaste for the prequel trilogy, while acknowledging that the films are now loved by many.
“I was in college when the prequels came out. My friends and I were Prequel Hate Central. Everyone was ruthless at the time. And of course now the prequels are embraced”
In looking forward, Johnson provided an interesting update on his planned Star Wars trilogy, hinting that it may not come to fruition.
“It was all very conceptual.. There was never any outline or treatment or anything…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 Kathy. It’s the sort of thing if, down the line, there’s an opportunity to do it, or do something else in Star Wars, I would be thrilled. But right now I’m just doing my own stuff, and pretty happy.”