Rian Johnson Feels Fine About ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’

The changeover from Star Wars: The Last Jedi to The Rise of Skywalker had everyone feeling some type of way, and it continues to this day. Was J.J. Abrams spitefully undoing Rian Johnson’s work in Jedi, or are the two more in conversation with one another than they appear? In Johnson’s eyes, it’s the latter, and something he harbors no ill will about.

While chatting with Rolling Stone about Poker Face’s just-wrapped second season, he revealed he had “a great time” watching Skywalker and didn’t feel precious about how things shook out. “I didn’t feel resentful in some way,” he said. “In my perspective, J.J. did the same thing with the third that I did with the second, which is not digging it up and undoing — just telling the story the way that was most compelling going forward. That means not just validating what came before, but recontextualizing it and evolving and changing as the story moves forward.” For those who do have problems with Skywalker, or any Star Wars film, Johnson advised you check YouTube. (Assuming you already haven’t.)

Despite some online backlash to Jedi, it seemed Lucasfilm wanted to keep Johnson on board, at one point giving him the keys to a whole Star Wars trilogy. But he says he only got as far as concepting ideas with Kathleen Kennedy when he caught the murder mystery bug. After “Knives Out happened,” he was tapped to make two sequels— the third film, Wake Up Dead Man, is due in December—and found time to do Poker Face for Peacock. At the moment, he’s “perfectly happy” making his own stuff, but he also reiterated what he’s said before: if there’s ever a chance to make that trilogy or anything else Star Wars-related, he’ll gladly take it.

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