Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Editor Says Production was in a 'No-Win' Situation


Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker might have become one of the most divisive entries in the Star Wars franchise, however, the film's editor Maryann Brandon reasons out that the film's crew had themselves a "no-win situation" creating the third and final entry in Disney's Star Wars sequel trilogy.

Despite its critical and commercial success, The Rise of Skywalker's predecessor, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, found itself destabilizing the fanbase when it decided to subvert fan expectations. Reacting to this, director J.J. Abrams and his team decided to add fanservice into their film. The only problem is that the director added in too much fan service in the movie, disrupting the film's quality.

Speaking in an interview on The Rough Cut Podcast, Brandon admits that she and Abrams had always intended to "service" the fanbase. That's what made the film so polarizing.

"Look, sure, it's fan service and if you didn't service the fans, it would be, ‘Oh, he didn't go along with the history of Star Wars and what it all means'," Brandon explained.

Aside from being placed in a tight spot, Brandon also puts the blame on the fact that she and Abrams had to work on much tighter production deadlines than they did with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. According to the editor, these limiting deadlines affected everything.

Perhaps it was a mixture of all of these things, though right now, we can't really tell who is to blame for The Rise of Skywalker's divisiveness.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is currently screening in cinemas.

Read: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Didn't Use Any of Colin Trevorrow's Original Script

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