J.J. Abrams is responsible for bringing the Star Wars franchise back with The Force Awakens and he's now set to return to end the trilogy he started with 2019's Episode IX. Some fans, however, are concerned that the filmmaker will essentially remake Return of the Jedi, something he was accused of doing when The Force Awakens took inspiration from A New Hope. In a new interview, Abrams made it clear that he's taking a different approach to the movie as he looks to take things in a fresh direction.
"Well, it’s certainly something that I’m aware of now working on Episode IX – coming back into this world after having done Episode VII," Abrams said. "I feel like we need to approach this with the same excitement that we had when we were kids, loving what these movies were. And at the same time, we have to take them places that they haven’t gone, and that’s sort of our responsibility."
Meanwhile, Star Wars News Net has uncovered a Reddit post from a fan who recently met Abrams and Episode IX screenwriter Chris Terrio (he shared photographic proof) and he's revealed some very interesting details after chatting to them. It sounds like the movie will not only bring the story which started with The Phantom Menace to a head but that the prequel trilogy will be alluded to in a big way.
"They said that they’re going to be brave and there will be big surprises. I got the impression that JJ felt like he had to refresh previous Star Wars moments for a modern audience in TFA, and now it feels like they have free reign to do what they want. Apparently they’ve had no interference from Kathleen or Pablo or the Lucasfilm Story Group. 9 is also the film which unites all three trilogies and brings everything together. That’s all they would tell me."
"I worry a little bit that the questions I was asking were too leading. I was speaking to Chris and he was talking about the OT. I said about how I grew up with the PT and the prequels were my entry point into Star Wars. I asked about elements of the PT coming into 9 and Chris said about how 9 unites all of it. He said 9 definitely makes it feel like they’re all happening in the same universe, and there would be PT elements in 9. They could be visual or thematic – he didn’t overtly say that there would be returning planets or characters from the PT or anything."
Sounds pretty awesome, right? For all we know, Snoke is a character with ties to the prequels and love them or hate them, it's about time the current franchise references them in a significant way. What do you guys think of these latest details about Star Wars Episode IX? Share your thoughts down below.