J.J. Abrams Defends Rian Johnson; Says ‘The Last Jedi' Didn't Derail the Trilogy

Rian Johnson’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” upended and infuriated so many fans of George Lucas’ prized franchise that expectations for the upcoming J.J. Abrams-directed “Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker” comes with bittersweet expectations for some. Yes, many fans are being cautious in their optimism for the final chapter of this trilogy, many of which are still not over Johnson’s controversial creative choices in “The Last Jedi.” However, Abrams tells ET Canada that he had no problem with Johnson’s “The Last Jedi” decisions and that the writer-director didn’t “derail” anything:

“The story that we’re telling, the story that we started to conceive when we did ‘The Force Awakens’ was allowed to continue,” Abrams said. “Episode VIII didn’t really derail anything that we were thinking about.”

Abrams is trying to defend his pal Johnson from the toxicity of super fandom. I understand that, but there is no denying that whatever happened in “The Last Jedi” will forever remain on celluloid. Abrams could pretend it never existed or work around what Johnson did, but the finished product remains; For better or for worse, “The Last Jedi” will always stick out as a unique installment in the Skywalker saga.

Here’s what I wrote about the fan backlash back in 2018:

“Yes, Rian Johnson's "The Last Jedi" riled up many long-time "Star Wars" fans and quickly became the most divisive movie in franchise history. There's no arguing that. You may say the film was "bold" but there's no discounting the fact that those that did the complaining were longtime fans that, in all essence, were purists when it came to the franchise and were allergic to any kind of change emerging to the characters and storylines. The main complaint was, of course, the way Johnson treated Luke Skywalker and how his all-encompassing statement that the "Jedi was dead" could not have been uttered by the same guy who told Yoda in 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back" "I won't fail you, I'm not afraid." Alas, this deviation from the original spirit of the character rubbed many people the wrong way. Others were also complaining about the new characters whom, coincidentally or not, were female, (Laura Dern's Admiral Holdo and Kelly Marie Tran's Rose Tico,) which even led to a fan deciding to edit his own 46 minute version of the "The Last Jedi" without any women in it. “

“The Rise of Skywalker” opens December 20.