While there is a small, vocal group of fans who are dismayed at the way Rian Johnson changes things up with Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the outstanding reviews and near record-breaking box office suggests most are very happy. And while part of me suspects J.J. Abrams will go back into nostalgia mode with Episode 9, we won’t have to wait long to see Johnson take Star Wars into new territory again.
Speaking with THR, Johnson gave a tiny update on his upcoming Star Wars trilogy that promises to chart a brand new course. How do we know? Because Lucasfilm dug what he did on The Last Jedi so much that they approved the project without any kind of firm story details.
“I’m at the very beginning of trying to come up with it, and honestly, timeline-wise, I’m not sure yet. In a way it’s interesting, but in a way it’s the least interesting part of it to me. I’m more thinking of what’s the story going to be, who is it going to follow? What elements is it going to have? What kind of drama is in it? My head right now is more in that place. I haven’t really, really gotten into it. Right now I’m mostly excited by the potential and just starting to form little clusters of ideas of what it might become.”
The good news is that Johnson isn’t feeling overwhelmed by the whole thing. Instead he’s energized to get right back to work…
“We’re going to figure out the timing of the next one. We haven’t figured it out yet. I’ll say, I don’t feel like, ‘Oh my God, I’m exhausted, I need to sit on a beach for a month.’ I feel creatively energized right now. I feel like I want to jump right into work. This whole process has left me feeling ready to jump in and do it again right away. I don’t know why. I don’t know if that’s a good sign.”
I love what Johnson is doing right now and if his work on The Last Jedi is anything to go by we could be on the verge of something really exciting.
