**Spoilers ahead for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”**
Good news, everyone! “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has officially been released, and the world continues to spin. Another massive “Star Wars” film has arrived, and our planet didn’t explode from all the hype and rabid fanboy speculation. But with the intense debate surrounding the film, that will likely continue for at least another two years, “Star Wars” fans from around the world want to know how writer and director Rian Johnson was given so much free reign to, in effect, burn down the franchise and create anew.
Well, filmmaker Spike Jonze is on the case! Jonze was given the opportunity to sit and discuss the new film with Johnson at the recent Director’s Guild screening. On the podcast “The Director’s Cut,” Jonze and Johnson spend over 20 minutes going through the creation of what is sure to be the most debated “Star Wars” film to date.
“There wasn’t any secret whiteboard with the whole story laid out. I read J.J. [Abrams], Michael [Arndt], and Larry [Kasdan] script for [‘The Force Awakens’], and it was just ‘What happens next?’ ” said Rian Johnson during the interview. This seems to be the answer to the biggest question surrounding ‘The Last Jedi.” Did ‘The Force Awakens’ creative team have a huge, grand plan for the three-film story? Apparently not. Johnson continues, “This was more like a baton handoff.”
The reason this has been on the minds of fans around the world is because ‘The Last Jedi’ feels so different than ‘The Force Awakens.’ Where ‘The Force Awakens’ was a celebration of everything ‘Star Wars,’ ‘The Last Jedi’ was a deconstruction of the entire mythology. Needless to say, fans were not expecting this contrast, and this disparity between films has led to literal petitions to get ‘The Last Jedi’ removed from canon.
The other highly debated question is how much did J.J. Abrams and company tell Rian about the answers to questions raised in ‘The Force Awakens?’ Was Johnson given direction when talking about Snoke’s origins or Rey’s true parentage? The answer to that is definitely no. With Rey’s true parentage revealed to be of no real importance, with her parents being two drunks who gave her up for some money, Johnson just picked what he thought would be the only interesting answer. “You’ll have to stand on your own two feet and define yourself in this story,” says Johnson.
Perhaps the real reason ‘The Last Jedi’ exists as something unique is because Rian Johnson wrote the film almost in a vacuum. The first screenplay was turned in well before ‘The Force Awakens’ was released and became one of the biggest films of all time. Hell, he wrote his first draft not even based on footage seen, but solely on the script for ‘Episode VII.’ Johnson says, “I was writing based on my reaction to it, not the world’s reaction to it.”
Now, with the reaction to ‘The Last Jedi’ so polarizing, you would imagine that Lucasfilm was going to ensure that Johnson gives specific direction to incoming filmmaker J.J. Abrams on how the trilogy should end. However, it seems the “baton handoff” method is alive and well. Johnson talks about how he had a brief lunch with J.J. and ‘Episode IX’ writer Chris Terrio, where he gave some quick ideas but no formal direction. Much like Johnson did with ‘The Last Jedi,’ this could turn into ‘Episode IX’ feeling very different than its predecessor.
What does that mean for this new trilogy’s finale? Well, as we’ve seen since the release of ‘The Last Jedi,’ ‘Star Wars’ is truly surprising again. And audiences will have to wait and see what surprises are in store when the untitled ‘Episode IX’ is released in December 2019.