We’re still extremely curious if Rian Johnson will ever return to the “Star Wars” galaxy after “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” had such a bizarre divisive reaction, as the filmmaker had been once tasked to create his original trilogy of films only for his attention to pulled toward his Daniel Craig-led “Knivies Out” trilogy (two of those movies at Netflix) and two seasons of the comedic murder mystery Peacock series “Poker Face.”
Speaking with Rolling Stone Magazine, Johnson not only admits that he never wrote concrete outlines for his secreative “Star Wars” trilogy of films that he was attached to after the release of “The Last Jedi,” but he also talked-up why he decided to bump off Supreme Leader Snoke (played by Andy Serkis), who was established as the looming new big bad by J.J. Abrams in “The Force Awakens.”
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“It was all very conceptual. There was never any outline or treatment or anything…Nothing really happened with it. We had a great time working together, and they said, ‘Let’s keep doing it.’ I said, ‘Great!’ I would kick ideas around with Kathy. 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. But right now I’m just doing my own stuff, and pretty happy,” Johnson said of his mysterious “Star Wars” trilogy while still optimistic for a potential return to the franchise.
That lack of development on his “Star Wars” projects isn’t too shocking given that Johnson released “Knives Out” only to secure financial backing for two more installments, and getting those out in a rather lightning-fast pace, all things considered. For that to happen, alongside “Poker Face,” he would have had to be hyper-focused on the murder mysteries.
When it came to Snoke’s death and Kylo’s taking over of the First Order, “That was, in reading J.J.’s script, and watching the dailies, and seeing the power of Adam Driver’s character. The interrogation scene in the first movie, between Rey and Kylo, was so incredibly powerful. Seeing this complicated villain that’s been created, I was just so compelled by that. This is all a matter of perspective and phrasing, but to me, I didn’t easily dispense with Snoke. I took great pains to use him in the most dramatically impactful way I could, which was to then take Kylo’s character to the next level and set him up as well as I possibly could. I guess it all comes down to your point of view. I thought, “This is such a compelling and complicated villain. This is is who it makes sense going forward to build around.'”
Ultimately, Kylo, or Ben Solo, ended up dying, and we’re super curious what that new Rey Skywalker movie, “Star Wars: The New Jedi Order,” from Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will explore and how much Shawn Levy‘s “Star Wars: Starfighter” with Ryan Gosling will connect to those characters from the sequel trilogy. As audiences won’t see the end of that timeline, hopefully, the next waves of villains will have a much bigger impact than Snoke or get a stronger backstory than the underused Knights of Ren.
Johnson’s next film, “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” is heading to the BFI London Film Festival before its streaming debut on Netflix this December.
