Star Wars: Rian Johnson Addresses Why Holdo's 'The Last Jedi' Decision Doesn't Create a "Plot Hole"

The Last Jedi offered audiences multiple incredible moments, with one of the most memorable being [...]

The Last Jedi offered audiences multiple incredible moments, with one of the most memorable being Holdo's decision to turn her ship towards the First Order and jump to hyperspace, eviscerating many of the fleet's most important vessels. Most audiences were impressed with the moment, yet some viewers claimed this created a "plot hole," as a move this devastating should have been utilized in previous battles. Writer/director Rian Johnson, on the other hand, explained exactly why the maneuver was so important.

"First of all, has this been done before, period? I've got to reserve the right for [Story Group member] Pablo [Hidalgo] to build it back into canon, if he's like, 'Yeah, this is a thing and they outlawed it,'" Johnson revealed on The /Filmcast. "I think there's various ways you can go with it. But it's not like it was the plan to do this. It's a spur of the moment thing. It's this idea that she gets and she sits down and f-cking does, and it obviously takes everybody completely by surprise. It takes Hux by surprise. The fact that Hux doesn't see it coming means it's probably not a standard military maneuver. I think it was something that Holdo (laughs) pulled out of her butt in the moment."

Given that Johnson has been a Star Wars fan his whole life and he was working with Lucasfilm to develop this sequence, many would trust what the filmmaker was talking about, yet that didn't stop trolls on social media from decrying this sequence as ludicrous.

Despite attempts to discredit the scene, Johnson also recently revealed that he was inspired by a line of dialogue from Han Solo in the first film.

"I'm sure that a lot of fans had thought ever since Han was talking about how if you don't get the calculations right you could go through [a star]," Johnson explained to the Empire Film Podcast. "I always wanted to see what that would look like and the guys at ILM at some point, somebody hit upon that exposure idea of everything going silent. Because we were struggling with how do we make this visually impressive and when somebody hit on that, and that came up on the screen, we were just like, OHHH, this is going to be cool."

If the entirety of The Last Jedi wasn't enough reason to give Johnson the keys to the Star Wars kingdom for a future trilogy, this moment alone showed how ambitious the filmmaker is and that he will push the saga forward into unexpected territory.

The Last Jedi is in theaters now.

[H/T The /Filmcast]

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