Rian Johnson’s much-reported “Star Wars” trilogy is officially not happening.
The “Knives Out” filmmaker, who previously directed 2017’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” tells THR that, regarding the once-announced trilogy, “that plan is effectively dead.”
Yet Johnson, who triggered many “Star Wars” fans by upending established lore in “The Last Jedi,” still speaks warmly of the franchise: “A part of my brain will always be in ‘Star Wars.’ It’s so much a part of me and the way I think.”
Though Johnson has previously expressed openness to working with Lucasfilm again, nothing has progressed on that front. He’s currently deep in development on an original sci-fi project of his own, and has openly said he wants to make more Knives Out movies.
Should anyone be shocked by this? Yes and no. Back in 2022, Johnson was still publicly insisting the trilogy was alive and well. “I’ve stayed close to Kathleen [Kennedy] and we get together often and talk about it,” he told Empire at the time. “It’s just at this point a matter of schedule and when it can happen. It would break my heart if I were finished, if I couldn’t get back in that sandbox at some point.” He doubled down a few months later in Variety, saying, “God, I hope so,” when asked if he’d return, referencing his “amazing experience” on “The Last Jedi” and adding that he and Kennedy were “still talking about it.”
Johnson’s “The Last Jedi,” the second chapter in the most recent trilogy, irked plenty of longtime fans—some to the point of vowing to never watch another “Star Wars” movie again. I know more than a few hardcores who abandoned the franchise entirely because of what Johnson did in “The Last Jedi.”
For a large portion of the “Star Wars” fanbase, The Last Jedi crossed a line they never believed the series would approach. Johnson’s bold subversions—Luke Skywalker rejecting the Jedi legacy, the handling of Rey’s parentage, the treatment of legacy characters, and the film’s apparent dismissal of long-held lore—felt to some like a betrayal rather than a reinvention. There was simply no way Johnson would be given the keys to another trilogy without the approval of Bob Iger, despite Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy’s greenlight.
There are currently at least seven other “Star Wars” films in development, from directors Simon Kinberg, James Mangold, Dave Filoni, Donald Glover, Taika Waititi, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Patty Jenkins.
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