Star Wars Director Rian Johnson Talks About The Freedom Of His Upcoming Trilogy

Sure, some Star Wars fans might be hoping that Lucasfilm cancels Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson's upcoming Star Wars trilogy, but it looks like the filmmaker is still working on the projects that he's set to create for everyone's galaxy far, far away.

Speaking in an interview with the Observer, Johnson decided to open up about his upcoming Star Wars trilogy, discussing the freedom that the franchise is giving him now that Star Wars is moving away from the Skywalker saga. According to the director, it's pretty exciting to craft different Star Wars stories that no longer focus on the established characters.

"I think that the fun and challenging part of it is to dive in, figure out what's exciting and then figure out what it's going to be," Johnson explained, "We're doing something that steps beyond the legacy characters. What does that look like? To me, the blue sky element of it is what was most striking about it. I know the way that I'm coming at it and what's fun about it for everyone in George Lucas' films is figuring out, ‘What's the next step?' It really makes you think and figure out what the essence of Star Wars is for me and what that will look like moving forward."

The concept of a Star Wars franchise without legacy characters like Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Leia (the late Carrie Fisher), and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) may sound a little bit strange for some Star Wars fans, but seeing the franchise head into uncharted territory sounds terribly exciting.

The Star Wars franchise has to change and focus on new stories – though we're pretty sure that the new direction might face some pretty vocal opposition from the more traditional sector of the Star Wars fandom. Star Wars: The Last Jedi tried to take the franchise to a new direction, however, a vocal minority continues to criticize the film for allegedly misusing legacy characters and for subverting fan expectations.

Are you excited for Rian Johnson's new trilogy? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker premieres December 20, 2019.

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