Adam Driver Talks Tone Of Star Wars: Episode VIII Script

When Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens hit theaters last year, fans saw several similarities between it and its predecessors. The new trilogy promises to mirror the original's structure by way of plotting and structuring. And, according to Adam Driver, it seems like Episode VIII will continue the copy-cat trend — sort of.

The actor recently spoke to Collider about Episode VIII and teased the film will follow after another fan-favorite Star Wars film. Describing the script for Episode VIII, Adam said, "It's great. It's similar to how The Empire Strikes Back has a different tone."

"For that people always go "oooh, it's dark" but I don't know that it necessarily is. It's just different in tone in a way that I think is great and necessary but also very clear," he continued. "He trusts [that] his audience is ready for nuance and ambiguity. He's not dumbing anything down for someone and that's really fun to play."

For many, the actor's words are encouraging. Fans often tout The Empire Strikes Back as one of the best films of the Star Wars Universe, citing its gritty tone and operatic action. However, Adam is indicating Episode VIII won't take a dark turn but rather a different one.

The new tone will likely please those critics who thought The Force Awakens was too similar to the original Star Wars trilogy. Changing the tone of Episode VIII will showcase the franchise's complexity without copying The Empire Strikes Back outright.

In his interview, Adam went on to discuss what it was like working with Rian Johnson after he inherited J.J. Abram's seat as director.

"Maybe this is just me thinking of myself, but I'm surprised [because] in their shoes I'd be way more stressed out than [J.J. and Rian] seem to be," the actor said. "Rian is coming into something that we kind of set up and he just took it to the next level in a really great way. He wrote it, too, and Rian's writing is so clear."

"He's the most polite, unassuming guy and he was appropriately territorial about some things but would still be the first to admit when something's not working. A lot of times you need to rise to understand what the script is, and perhaps I'm beginning to be unclear, but he's a great person to work with," Adam gushed.

As for his role, Adam said he felt the stakes were even higher for him when he reprised the role of Kylo Ren. "No one's relaxing," he explained. "I didn't feel more relaxed as if we'd accomplished anything... It's one more reason we have to redouble our efforts and just make it even more specific."

With Adam's words in mind, fans can now only wonder what changes are in store for Kylo in Episode VIII. Those fans are hoping they'll get more updates on the upcoming film sooner than later, and many are already petitioning Lucasfilm to release a title and teaser trailer for Episode VIII come Thanksgiving.

Star Wars: Episode VIII will hit theaters on December 15 2017.

[H/T] Collider