There were rumors circulating online that Rian Johnson’s trilogy has been canceled due to the backlash against The Last Jedi, but the director has just confirmed that he’s still in talks with Lucasfilm to direct more Star Wars movies.
Of course, The Last Jedi remains controversial. The second film in the Sequel Trilogy caused a rift between fans which hasn’t fully mended to this day. While some admired Johnson’s decision to take risks and hailed them as bold and novel, many fans thought the plot developments weren’t in the best interest of the story as a whole. But despite the negative backlash and a great deal of online trolling, Rian Johnson is apparently still on course to direct his independent Star Wars movies.
In an interview with Deadline, he confirmed as much by saying:
“We’re still engaged with Lucasfilm and we’ll wait and see. No updates on it at this moment, but yeah.”
Johnson also addressed the toxic online culture by talking about his own experience on Twitter and the effect of internet trolls on his new movie, Knives Out.
“Anyone who’s on Twitter these days, god bless you because it’s rough waters out there. But there’s also wonderful stuff about it. That’s why we’re all still on it, I guess. That’s one of the things [Knives Out] engages with, the current state of online culture. Whether you made a Star Wars movie or you have a cooking show, whatever you’re doing on there, someone’s going to be screaming at you probably. Let’s put it on a screen in a way we can all maybe have a laugh about it.”
It was recently announced that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have walked away from their Star Wars trilogy. When asked, they cited the toxic fanbase as one of the primary reasons for this decision. Their first movie was supposed to hit the theaters in 2022, so this could mean that Johnson’s trilogy might take priority and move forward if he manages to reach an agreement with Lucasfilm.
At any rate, we’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds for Rian Johnson and his Star Wars trilogy. But for what it’s worth, even despite the director repeatedly saying he’s on board, many have stopped believing him and sources close to WGTC believe it’s highly unlikely his films will get made. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, of course, but personally, we wouldn’t hold our breath.