We caught our first glimpse of the Knights of Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens but aside from Luke Skywalker's throwaway mention of Kylo Ren disappearing with a handful of his students, The Last Jedi failed to shed any light on who or what the group actually are. During a recent interview, Rian Johnson was asked to elaborate on his decision to not include them and it boils down to timing issues.
With so many characters already in The Last Jedi, the filmmaker was concerned about overcrowding and there simply wasn't any room for the group of fallen Jedi (he also weighs in why the Knights didn't wind up being used as Supreme Leader Snoke's Praetorian Guard who were killed by Kylo and Rey).
"We have a very full movie already there literally was just not room for another element. I guess I could’ve used them in place of the Praetorian guards but then it would feel like wasting them because all those guards had to die. And if Kylo had some kind of connection to them it would’ve added a complication that wouldn’t have helped the scene… Truth is, I just didn’t see a place for them in the movie."
Now, it's up to Episode IX to finally pull back the curtain on these Knights but if J.J. Abrams also decides there's no room for them, they'll remain one of the trilogy's biggest plot holes. That would be a shame, of course, but seeing as Abrams introduced them, the filmmaker will no doubt make some room for them. What do you guys think? As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts in the usual place.