This year celebrates both the five-year anniversary of Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi and the five-year anniversary of Lucasfilm’s official statement that Rian Johnson, the writer-director of that movie, will be helming a brand-new trilogy of Star Wars films. These movies haven’t been made in half a decade, yet even though they seem to have vanished like Luke Skywalker hiding on Ahch-To, they aren’t quite gone. In an interview with Empire, Johnson made it plain that he hasn’t forgotten about his initial Star Wars films and that he still has a strong desire to visit the far-off galaxy in the future.
“I’ve stayed close to Kathleen [Kennedy] and we get together often and talk about it,” he tells Empire of his long-awaited Star Wars series. “It’s just at this point a matter of schedule and when it can happen. It would break my heart if I were finished if I couldn’t get back in that sandbox at some point.”
For the time being, he is actively working on two Knives Out sequels for Netflix, the first of which, titled Glass Onion, will be released in December. The Mandalorian will make a comeback early next year, while Ahsoka will follow. In the meantime, the Star Wars schedule is appearing similarly packed, with Andor’s premiere still weeks away.
Johnson’s remarks are in line with what Kathleen Kennedy said to Empire at the Star Wars Celebration previously this year, which was that everyone engaged has a full plate for the time being but that the movies are far from being abandoned.
“Now, everybody’s so busy – genuinely busy and working on things,” Kennedy said a few months ago. “Rian had such a gigantic success with Knives Out that he’s very committed to try and get that done. So it’ll be a while. And we have to work three, five years in advance on what we’re doing. So that’s where that sits. But we love him.”
A glimmer of hope exists then. If The Last Jedi has taught anyone anything, it is that all it needed was a spark to start a fire and bring down the First Order. For a new round of Rian Johnson Star Wars stories to start, we’re more than patient enough to wait.
