This has been clear for a while now, but Rian Johnson has made it official in a recent THR interview. The Star Wars trilogy Johnson was planning to make since 2017 is “effectively dead.” He added, “A part of me will always be in “Star Wars. It’s so much a part of me and the way I think.”
So is this is a surprise? Not really. Even when there were minor updates along the way, it never seemed like the project was inching any closer. Both Johnson and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed its continued existence as recently as 2022, but last summer when the filmmaker said the trilogy was merely a “concept”, the writing was definitely on the wall.
Instead, Johnson has been focused on two Knives Out movies for Netflix. The latest, Wake Up Dead Man, opens in theaters this week before hitting the streamer on December 12th. Johnson has also begun teasing his next film, an original ’70s paranoid sci-fi thriller. There’s also the possibility of more Knives Out sequels, if a deal can be ironed out.
That said, it’s always possible that Johnson returns to Star Wars in the future. His one foray was the polarizing Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which dared to challenge fans in a way many weren’t expecting. Johnson’s decision to think outside the box is why some love it (as I do) and why others hate it. But it made you look at these films differently, and Lucasfilm needs more people like Johnson driving these stories, not fewer.
