Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson discusses his upcoming new Star Wars trilogy and why he’s so excited to tell more stories set in the galaxy far, far away. Johnson’s first entry in the franchise, The Last Jedi, hits theaters this month and fans are excited to see the next chapter in the Skywalker Saga following new force-user Rey and dark side villain Kylo Ren.
The film is set to be a game-changing entry to the franchise taking on a darker story as our favorite characters are put to the test, face their demons and continue to fight for control of the galaxy, but it’s not going to be the last time we see Johnson’s point-of-view on the Star Wars universe. Early last month, it was revealed by Lucasfilm that Johnson will be developing a new Star Wars trilogy outside of the Skywalker Saga with new and original characters “from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored.” While Johnson’s Star Wars trilogy most likely won’t be coming out until sometime after 2020, fans are already wondering what, who and where his films will explore in the Star Wars universe and if they’ll have the same impact that the original and prequel films had on audiences.
Related: What Will Rian Johnson’s New Star Wars Trilogy Be About?
In a new interview with IGN, Johnson discussed his excitement about getting the chance to tell a Star Wars story with “no limitations” and why he was given the opportunity from Lucasfilm to make his own trilogy. For Johnson, it was the wonderful partnership between himself, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and Disney CEO Bob Iger that sparked the idea for Johnson to helm his own trilogy. Here is what he said:
"Right now there's all the freedom in the world. That's the whole thing that's exciting to me is let's go some new places, let's meet some new folks, let's see what else is out there. Let's have one story told over three films in this galaxy with no limitations. It's pretty exciting.
"We all just had a really good time working together. I know for us, that was a big part of it. We were getting to the end of it and Kathy Kennedy and Bob Iger and Alan Horn, Alan Berkman, all the folks at Disney, we were just sad that this was coming to an end. We were like, 'How do we figure out some way to keep working together?' That's when I pitched the idea of a new trilogy with a new story. That seemed really exciting for me."
Considering the reason Johnson was given the opportunity to create his own trilogy was how well he worked with Kennedy and Iger, it sounds like The Last Jedi is going to be a fantastic film - especially since the past drama between Kennedy and directors Lord and Miller, which led to them being fired from Solo: A Star Was Story. This also makes us even more excited about what Johnson has planned for his own Star Wars trilogy since he has even more freedom with creating original characters and having a clean slate when it comes to world building.
When it comes to the Star Wars story Johnson will tell, we have no idea who it will be focused on or where it could take place, but considering he stated that the films will take place in "a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored" there's been speculation that they could take place in the Wild Space region or during the time of the Old Republic. For now though, fans are going to have to keep speculating since we have Solo: A Star Wars Story, Episode 9 and some other anthology films Lucasfilm has planned for the next couple of years, so there's a good chance we won't be getting any information from Johnson until Episode 9 is at least finished.
Next: Rian Johnson’s Trilogy Will Finally Liberate Star Wars
Source: Terri Schwartz/IGN
