Star Wars 8 Director Previews Opening Crawl

Writer/director Rian Johnson has revealed one word that will be part of the opening crawl for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Following the blockbuster success of The Force Awakens, Johnson, of course, is assuming the helm of the next film in the Star Wars trilogy that director J.J. Abrams got started.

And if fans thought Abrams was tight-lipped about the details of The Force Awakens leading up to its December 2015 release, Johnson has been especially secretive about not revealing any details about The Last Jedi – as he's been choosing his words very carefully in interviews, at events like Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Florida, in April, and Disney's D23 Expo over the weekend in Anaheim, California.

But in a interview at D23 published by the Los Angeles Times Tuesday, Johnson dropped a single word that will be featured in the film's opening crawl that fans will see when the curtains part in theaters this Dec. 15. Asked about the pressure of coming up with the opening crawl – an iconic part of all the films in the Star Wars saga since 1977 (save for the anthology film Rogue One, which did not have one) – Johnson tells the publication that the word "Decimated" will be a part of it.

While Johnson, naturally, didn't reveal any other words apart from "decimated" from the opening crawl (he did joke that he considered "poop," however), he explained to the LA Times the sort of pressure that goes into writing the opening crawl for a Star Wars film.

“That was petri… Actually, you know, I just did it. I just started writing the draft. I wrote something, and it was terrible. And then I was watching one of the behind-the-scenes things and Lucas said, ‘It’s like writing a haiku.’ ... I realized as I was refining it what he meant. We didn’t finish the opening crawl and totally lock it until a few weeks ago actually. Because you’re like, ‘Do we need this word, do we need that word, what if we shift.’ It’s like a poem, there’s very little room for error in trying to get it just right. Which is awesome, it’s really fun.”

Since Johnson has revealed that "decimated" will be part of the opening crawl for The Last Jedi, fans, naturally, will immediately begin dissecting its meaning in the context of the film. One logical guess would be that its in reference to the First Order, which took a massive hit at the end The Force Awakens when the Resistance blew up Starkiller Base. Losing a major weapon, whether it belongs to the good or bad guys, would leave any army decimated.

Another guess is that it could be in reference to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and his feelings after defection of Ben Solo, aka Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) from Luke's Jedi training. Or, perhaps General Leia (Carrie Fisher) is feeling decimated by the loss of Han Solo (Harrison Ford). The possibilities seem endless.

Whatever the case may be, it will all become clear when the rest of the opening crawl appears at the opening of The Last Jedi when it opens in less than five months. Fans should be appreciative that Johnson gave them a fascinating word to mull over, instead of, say, "Resistance," "Kylo," "Rey," "Leia" or "Luke." That might have left fans feeling "decimated."