Star Wars is considered to be one of the most significant contributions to the world of pop culture. The iconic franchise started by George Lucas has expanded to a vast universe. It has multiple movies, series, animated projects, and games under its banner. But the franchise suffered a massive backlash following the release of the Sequel Trilogy. Interestingly, despite the intense criticism, The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson expressed his thoughts on returning to the franchise.
The Sequel Trilogy saga starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Issac couldn’t replicate the past reception and gained intense backlash from die-hard fans. The fans were equally annoyed with Disney as all the fiasco took place after they acquired Lucasfilm. But looks like the franchise has started to regain popularity after the success of their multiple Disney+ projects.
Rian Johnson on returning to the world of Star Wars
Rian Johnson was roped in by the Kathleen Kennedy cartel to direct the second movie in the sequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Last Jedi. While the critics praised the film, the audiences were largely divided. It also had to face a lot of negative reception from everywhere. But following that, J.J. Abrams returned for the last film of the trilogy titled The Rise of Skywalker which faced a disastrous reaction from everywhere.
Even though Rian Johnson’s movie largely divided the Star Wars fandom, it was reported that the director would return with a new trilogy of his own. He remarked that the trilogy would explore new areas in the franchise without having any connection with earlier stories. The plan was considered to be dead by many as the director focused his vision on the Knives Out franchise. But surprisingly, the ideas are still active.
Recently during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Rian Johnson was asked if he is willing to return to any Lucasfilm series considering their popularity after projects like Andor. In reply, the 48-year-old stated that he is up for any Star Wars project he is given.
“I would do a Star Wars anything. And if I had an idea that I was excited about, that worked better as a show than a movie, I’d do it that way. At the moment, we’re in between making the next Benoit Blanc movie and thinking about Poker Face. I keep getting together with Kathy [Kennedy] and having conversations. Who knows? Making The Last Jedi was the best experience in my life, so I should be so lucky.”
The director confirmed the long-running reports of him and president Kathleen Kennedy which stated that he is all set to return to the world of Star Wars after his projects with Netflix are completed. But looks like, now he is more probable to join for a series set in a galaxy far far away instead of any full-length project.
Can Rian Johnson return for a Star Wars series?
A long pause was taken by the space opera franchise after the ninth movie in the Skywalker Saga was released. The world of Jedis and Siths mainly followed a wide variety of Disney+ series during this time and it turned out to be a very successful move. The Mandalorian starring Pedro Pascal garnered wide acclaim from both critics as well as the audience. Andor, the latest project which just faced its conclusion recently gained the tag of the best series in the Star Wars universe.
The series starring Diego Luna as Cassian Andor proved to be a very successful output and is also set to return for a second season with a release date yet to be announced. On the other hand, even The Mandalorian is all set to return with the third season the next year. Additionally, there are also reports of Ahsoka and The Acolyte series which will soon receive more updates. Considering the repeated success faced by the shows, it is more likely that the Glass Onion director can return for a Disney+ project.
All the projects of Star Wars are streaming on Disney+ while The Mandalorian season 3 is set to stream from February 2023.
Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion is in the theaters now before coming to Netflix on December 23, 2022.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
