J. J. Abrams commented on how the unexpected turns in The Last Jedi impacted the story for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
After J. J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened in theaters, fans began developing theories on the numerous mysteries set up by the first chapter of the sequel trilogy. However, writer and director Rian Johnson took the next entry in the saga, titled Star Wars: The Last Jedi, in surprising directions that seemingly debunked many of those theories and subverted expectations.
While many were thrilled by Rian Johnson’s refreshing take on the Star Wars mythology in The Last Jedi, others were not pleased to see many of the questions posited by J. J. Abrams’ film remain unresolved or come to what they believed to be underwhelming conclusions. During an interview with Esquire, The Rise of Skywalker director J. J. Abrams discussed his reaction to reading Rian Johnson’s script for The Last Jedi and how he enjoyed being surprised by his take on the saga:
“There were some choices that made things a bit more fun for us, because, for example, Rian didn’t have the whole group collaborative adventure of it together, and that was really fun to get to tell the story of the group, the droids, out on one breakneck, crazy, desperate adventure. You know? The choices that he made for me were as a fan, as a reader of the script, a fan of his, a fan of Star Wars… it was just fun to read someone’s take that was so about surprising the viewer and it was just really entertaining, because it was, it got to surprise me nearly every time. So, I loved it for that.”
Many of The Last Jedi detractors accuse the film of derailing J. J. Abrams’ plans for how the Star Wars sequels would unfold. However, J. J. Abrams noted that the events of The Last Jedi did not alter their plans for the future Star Wars films and that Rian Johnson’s story choices actually strengthened his own storytelling options for The Rise of Skywalker:
“As a filmmaker, working on episode IX, amazingly, nothing that he did in Last Jedi got in the way of things that we had talked about wanting to do down the line, ideas that I had about where things might go, so… it wasn’t like his story somehow derailed the things I wanted to pursue. In fact, strangely, they might have even helped strengthen them because we got to make some choices that sort of take advantage of the fact that Rian hadn’t done the things that we were thinking about doing.”
Are you excited to see how J. J. Abrams follows The Last Jedi and concludes The Rise of Skywalker? Let us know below!
Here is the official synopsis for J. J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker:
Lucasfilm and director J. J. Abrams join forces once again to take viewers on an epic journey to a galaxy far, far away with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the riveting conclusion of the seminal Skywalker saga, where new legends will be born and the final battle for freedom is yet to come.
Directed by J. J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmid, and Billy Dee Williams. Carrie Fisher will appear as General Leia Organa through the use of previously unreleased footage shot for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be released in theaters on December 19, 2019.
Source: Esquire
