Super producer J.J. Abrams returned to a galaxy far, far away to direct Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which will close out the saga on December 20. He sat down with Screen Rant to discuss the narrative path following The Last Jedi, as well as the screenwriting process for the epic conclusion.
J.J., we're at the end of the journey of the Skywalker saga. I'm a little sad that we're here, but also very excited. Can you talk to me about the biggest writing challenge of picking up right after The Last Jedi for you guys?
J.J. Abrams: Well, we knew from the beginning, before I even called Chris Terrio to ask if he would do it with me - I was a huge fan of Argo, and I'd read a number of scripts that he'd written. I was just blown away. He wrote these amazing, really brilliantly written, muscular scenes, and I just was such a fan. But before I even called him, I was like, "This is going to be so hard. The challenge is gonna be crazy." And calling Chris was a bit of [knowing] I'm going to need someone who is not just a great writer, but a lover of Star Wars will be with me every step.
When we started working on this, it was looking at not just The Last Jedi, but all eight films that preceded this. And because I'd had a lot of conversations with Larry Kasdan on The Force Awakens about where the story might go, and much of what we had sort of generally talked about was still possible and still felt like the right direction, it was really about looking at everything that we inherited and saying, "What do we want to see?" What makes us laugh and scream and cry, and what feels right?
It was really just doing the best we could for ourselves to not trying to check boxes and say, "These are the things that we must do." But what are the things that we feel the story needs to do? And knowing going into it that we're certainly never going to please everyone. But if we're not being true to ourselves, it's never going to work.
Star Wars is in both of our bloods, you and I. As a kid, were you a blaster guy or a lightsaber guy?
J.J. Abrams: Well, I never felt cool enough to wield either. I certainly felt like I was Luke, and the reason I say that is that Luke wasn't too good with the saber when he first picked it up either. I could never be as cool as Han, and when I think of the blaster, you just think of him and his blaster.
I feel like the beauty of Star Wars for me was the that feeling that the most average, everyday person among us could be the most important person to defeat the biggest force of opposition and oppression. So, I guess I would say in the fantasy version: saber. But I just like being in that world.
At Comic Con, I spoke with Markus and McFeely from the Captain America and Avengers movies, and they said that if they were to do a DC character, it would be Superman. I know there's been a lot of rumors about you helming the DC Universe or even doing Superman. Is there an actual, realistic possibility that you would either direct or produce Superman?
J.J. Abrams: I have not had one official conversation with Warner Bros at all about this, but people have asked me this question. I know that because Bad Robot recently signed a deal with Warner Media, we will begin in earnest all discussions about what's coming next. But I know no more than you do about what's next, certainly [not] in terms of DC.
