Remember when Rian Johnson was supposed to bring us a whole new Star Wars trilogy? The Glass Onion filmmaker has now opened up about the projects that never were, and admitted it was “all very conceptual” — so much so that he never developed an “outline or a treatment or anything” for the project.
“Nothing really happened with it,” Johnson told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. “We had a great time working together, and they said, ‘Let’s keep doing it.’ I said, ‘Great!’ I would kick ideas around with Kathy [Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm president].
“The short version is ‘Knives Out’ happened. I went off and made ‘Knives Out,’ and was off to the races, busy making murder mysteries. It’s the sort of thing if, down the line, there’s an opportunity to do it, or do something else in ‘Star Wars,’ I would be thrilled. But right now I’m just doing my own stuff, and pretty happy.”
As the story goes, Johnson was in talks with Kennedy developing the three films, but the opportunity to make his Agatha Christie-style murder mystery Knives Out led the Last Jedi filmmaker to a different franchise altogether.
A few years back, Johnson spoke of his desire to get back in the director’s chair for another Star Wars film, though admitted that “it wouldn’t be the end of the world for anyone” if he didn’t.
“But I would be sad,” Johnson told Variety in 2022. “I love the world. I love the people. I love ‘Star Wars’ fans. I love the passion of how they engage in it. There’s nothing like telling a story in this world and then experiencing people truly connecting to it and letting you know that. It’s extraordinary.”
As part of the same interview, Johnson addressed the polarised fan reaction The Last Jedi, and said his days “arguing on the playground about Star Wars” — and in particular his previous dislike of the Prequel trilogy — had helped him process the backlash to his work.
The Brick filmmaker wrote and directed The Last Jedi in 2017, so it’s definitely been a while since he’s been in that galaxy. Considering the next Knives Out installment, Wake Up Dead Man, is set to be released in December, and Lucasfilm’s current Star Wars movie plans already stretch out to at least 2027, it may be some time before Johnson wields his lightsaber once more.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
