As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the last time Disney attempted to make an actual film out of Star Wars, the same question hovers above the franchise: Whatever happened to Rian Johnson’s Star Wars trilogy? Shortly before The Last Jedi was released, Disney was so high on it that the company announced that the writer-director would be spearheading a new trio of Star Wars films that would move the series far, far away from the Skywalker story. But because the fanbase couldn’t handle the idea of Luke Skywalker mirroring the same story arc as his Jedi master, Yoda, news of the trilogy receded into the background as Disney, led by outgoing Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, undid any trace of Johnson’s originality for The Rise Of Skywalker. Thankfully, in her exit interview with Deadline, Kennedy, a super-producer of the highest order, who shepherded Back To The Future, E.T., and Jurassic Park to theaters, clears the air on the trilogy and puts the blame on Johnson, who she believes “got spooked” by the Last Jedi backlash.
Kennedy doesn’t put it all on Johnson’s fears. There was also a lucrative Netflix deal keeping him from returning to Canto Bite. “Once he made the Netflix deal and went off to start doing the Knives Out films, that has occupied a huge amount of his time. That’s the other thing that happens here,” she said. “After Shawn [Levy] and I started talking about Star Wars, Stranger Things kicks in, and he was completely consumed for a while by that. That’s what happened with Rian.” But it wasn’t just writing and directing the Knives Out movies that kept him from Star Wars; it was also the chuds complaining about an Asian woman existing. “I do believe he got spooked by the online negativity,” Kennedy continued. “I think Rian made one of the best Star Wars movies. He’s a brilliant filmmaker, and he got spooked. This is the rough part. When people come into this space, I have every filmmaker and actors say to me, ‘What’s going to happen?’ They’re a little scared.”
That isn’t how Johnson remembers it. Last summer, he told Rolling Stone that “nothing” happened with the trilogy. He got busy making Knives Out, and the timing never worked out. “Nothing really happened with it,” Johnson said. “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.”
Still, maybe he “got scared” by Disney failing to protect its stars from the more odious segments of its fanbase. Instead, it allowed the freaks posting on a social media site dedicated to white supremacy and CSAM to dictate the direction of the series. The “very small group of people, with loud megaphones,” who Kennedy “truly [does] not believe that it’s the majority of fans,” got what they wanted, which is why Rose Tico was sidelined for Rise of Skywalker, and Palpatine returned, somehow. So, we suppose it’s a little disingenuous to say Johnson got spooked by the backlash rather than the multibillion-dollar company catering to the worst segments of its audience. God, and remember when they “killed” Chewbacca in Skywalker? Pure bantha poodoo.