Rian Johnson Claims 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi's' Negative Reception Did Not Lead To His Trilogy Getting Scrapped

Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson denied claims that negative reception to the film resulted in his announced trilogy seemingly being permanently shelved.

Back in 2017 before the release of The Last Jedi, Star Wars announced that Rian Johnson would direct a new Star Wars trilogy. The company announced in a blog post, “Lucasfilm is excited to announce that Johnson will create a brand-new Star Wars trilogy, the first of which he is also set to write and direct, with longtime collaborator Ram Bergman onboard to produce.”

Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy added, “He’s a creative force, and watching him craft The Last Jedi from start to finish was one of the great joys of my career. Rian will do amazing things with the blank canvas of this new trilogy.”

Following the release of The Last Jedi, Johnson’s trilogy was shelved and seemingly no movement was made on it. During an appearance at the Newport Beach Film Fest, Johnson was asked if the negative feedback affected him doing additional Star Wars.

He answered:

No, not at all. In fact, it’s the reason that I wanted to [do more]. 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, 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.

Back in July, Johnson told Rolling Stone that “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. 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’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.”

Also, of note, is that Rian Johnson accused critics of The Last Jedi of engaging in a violent harassment campaign against him.

A few months later he claimed it was political trolls with some of them coming from Russia. He wrote on X, “A bit of Morten’s research came out awhile ago and made some headlines - here’s his full paper. Looking forward to reading it, but what the top-line describes is consistent with my experience online.”

A couple of hours later he then attempted to clarify, “And just to be totally clear: this is not about fans liking or not liking the movie - I’ve had tons of great talks with great fans online and off who liked and disliked stuff, that’s what fandom is all about. This is specifically about a virulent strain of online harassment.”

He also made it very clear that he thought critics were “manbabies.”

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