Ending a story is difficult enough. Ending the story of a saga that spans more than 40 years and has millions upon millions of fans that are not exactly the nicest people on the Internet in a satisfying way is a Herculean task. J.J. Abrams acknowledges this, but says he is “not screwing around” with the ending of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” which he says will give a cohesive ending to all 9 films in the saga.
Abrams is no stranger to the pressures of ending a popular story. The creator of “Alias,” director of the “Star Trek” reboot and co-creator of “Lost” is familiar with audiences who won’t shut up about what they think of the ending to their favorite piece of pop-culture. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Abrams talks about his what ending the Skywalker saga means to him: “This is about bringing this thing to a close in a way that is emotional and meaningful and also satisfying in terms of actually answering [as many] questions as possible,” the director tells EW: “So if years from now, someone’s watching these movies, all nine of them, they’re watching a story that is as cohesive as possible.”
Abrams also talked about how he and Chris Terrio planned the story but also left room for inspiration, saying “it doesn’t mean that there’s a list of payoffs that we have to do because of setups.” But of course, he acknowledged the importance of ending this story in a satisfying way. “We also were very much aware this is the end of the trilogy and it needs to satisfy. We went into this thing knowing it has to be an ending. We’re not screwing around.”
Coming hot off the disappointing “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and just a month after the first live-action Star Wars show in “The Mandalorian,” Abrams’ “The Rise of Skywalker” is set to bring Billy Dee Williams’ Lando Calrissian and Ian McDiarmid’s Emperor Palpatine back to the franchise, as well as serve as the final on-screen appearance of Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa. “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” opens on December 20.