Have you ever wondered what would have happened if J.J. Abrams was in charge with all three Star Wars sequel trilogy films? Unfortunately, that could never have been possible as the filmmaker was too busy to work on Episode VIII. However, Abrams does admit he was jealous of Rian Johnson because of what the Knives Out director had done with Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Abrams recently spoke to Popcorn with Peter Travers where he revealed that he was never going to work on Episode VIII since he was too busy with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
"Well, no. For a moment, I felt like, ‘Oh, okay.' Because we had talked about doing Episode VIII, but the truth was I was beginning to direct Episode VII, and there was quite a bit to think about, and I didn't have the brainpower or the approval of my family to commit to being away for [that long]," Abrams said.
Although he couldn't work on Episode VIII, Abrams confirmed that he was given the chance to read Johnson's script. Interestingly, the director of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker confessed he felt green because he was so impressed with what Johnson had planned for the sequel.
"I loved that it was about shock, it was about surprise, it was about this sort of meta take on the Jedi. It was a very different approach than what I would have done, which is one of the reasons why it was fun to read," Abrams said. "And I was, and am, a real fan of his as a director, so I just knew he was gonna do something extraordinary with it. I was immediately like, oh, jealous, because I just felt like, ‘It's so much fun that he gets to continue the story with these characters.'"
Luckily, Abrams still got to work on the follow-up to The Last Jedi. Now, he has the honor of concluding the story he started in the first place.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker premieres on December 20.
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