During the European press tour for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, director Rian Johnson talked with Andrea Bedeschi of the Italian movie website BadTaste, and shared some details about his plans for the upcoming trilogy of Star Wars films he is making for Lucasfilm.
Johnson says he is not yet sure about how many of the movies he will be directing. The director said:
“I don’t know yet, I’m going to figure it out. I know I’m going to...it’s going to be one story told over three movies, I’m going to come up with the whole three movie arc and I’m going to write and direct the first one. I haven’t decided yet or figured out what I’ll do for all of them but the idea is I will come up with the whole thing.”
Johnson said he is not planning on going through the old expanded universe, now known as Star Wars Legends, before he starts writing the screenplay.
“The thing is when I was growing up, I knew the films, I played the "Knights of the Old Republic" video game, I never really read the novels or the comic books, and so I don’t have a lot of that in my head.
“I think it’s probably a good thing I don’t have all those stories in my head because I wanna be able to just start fresh. I don’t wanna be worried about ‘am I copying this, am I copying that, should I pull from this, should I pull from that,' I kind of want to come up with a new story, that’s what’s exciting to me, so I'm gonna start from there I think.”
Johnson said he will speak with Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo before he decides on which direction he’ll take the story. Hidalgo is known for his deep knowledge of the Star Wars universe and is in charge of cataloging new items in the series’ canon.
With J.J. Abrams taking the reigns of Episode IX, Johnson was asked whether he will sit down with his fellow director to discuss where the Skywalker saga goes from here. He responded by saying that they will have a discussion similar to the one they had before production of The Last Jedi. However, Johnson added that Abrams doesn’t need his help.
“He’s going to figure out something amazing for the final chapter of this, so I get to sit back and be an audience member again, and as a Star Wars fan, as a J.J. fan, I’m excited to be able to do that.”
Watch the full interview below:
Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theatres this Friday, but you already knew that.