J.J. Abrams Credits The Last Jedi's Rian Johnson for Helping Him Take More Chances in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

After directing Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which many felt was an entertaining movie that was a bit too similar to A New Hope, J.J. Abrams returned to direct Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Because of his return, many felt that Disney and LucasFilm would have Abrams make another nostalgic movie filled with callbacks to Return of The Jedi but it turns out that the movie takes more risks than we might think.

Speaking with Total Film (via GamesRadar), Abrams revealed that it was The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson who convinced him to do more changes in The Rise of Skywalker. This shouldn't come as a huge surprise since The Last Jedi was so different from what fans expected that it left a bad taste in the mouths of many but was seen as a breath of fresh air to a lot of people.

In Abrams' words, here's what he said about Johnson helping him take risks:

"Rian helped remind me that that's why we're on these movies – not to just do something that you've seen before. I won't say that I felt constrained or limited on 7, but I found myself wanting to do something that felt more consistent with the original trilogy than not. And on 9, I found myself feeling like I'm just gonna go for it a bit more."

We doubt that Abrams will do something like kill the bad guy as a surprise, which Johnson did for The Last Jedi, but it's good to know that this won't just be a remake of The Return of The Jedi. We're sure that this movie will pay homage to that installment in some way, though there are also rumors that it will give the prequels their due.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker comes out on December 20.

Read:Star Wars Films to Go on Hiatus After The Rise of Skywalker