Star Wars’ J.J. Abrams Admits The Rise of Skywalker’s Production was a 'Bit of a Trot'

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams may not have any response to the mixed-negative reviews to his second Star Wars movie, but the filmmaker does admit that production on the film was actually a "bit of a trot" because he and his team actually had "three fewer months" to make Episode IX than Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Speaking in an interview with Simon Mayo on BBC Radio, Abrams got to talking about some of the struggles he had working on The Rise of Skywalker. The filmmaker needed to rush work on the film because he wasn't given enough time to properly develop the project when he came in to replace Episode IX's original director, Colin Trevorrow.

"When Larry Kasdan and I were writing The Force Awakens, we had many discussions about what we thought might happen down the line, but we were just scrambling to get that film on its feet," Abrams explained in the interview, "And then Rian Johnson came in and did Last Jedi — I'm a big fan of his — and he did his film and we, obviously, over the years [had discussions]. I was not supposed to do Episode IX at that point, so I was just the audience. And I was watching it and loving it. And then Kathy Kennedy called and said, ‘Will you come back and do Episode IX?'"

For those who haven't been really following the news, Trevorrow was the original director assigned to Episode IX. The filmmaker had originally been given a few years to develop the film. However, because of creative differences, Trevorrow had to exit the project, and Abrams was made to take his place.

When Abrams accepted the role to become the director of Episode IX, he and Lucasfilm just went on and "continued the same conversations that Larry and I had." In the end, the film became a combination of a conversation that Abrams had been having for years. The only difference was that the project had to be made right away.

"So it was a combination of an ongoing conversation, things that we had been thinking about for years. And also, suddenly it wasn't far away, it was now. And we had three fewer months to make this film than Force Awakens, so from the beginning of it, it was a bit of a trot," the director admits.

We wonder what would have happened had Lucasfilm given Abrams more time.

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

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