Rian Johnson Defends the Humor of 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'

The Star Wars movies have always been packed with laughs, whether it be comedic relief in the form of characters like Jar Jar Binks or witty one liners from the cranky Han Solo. Then there are the droids, who are always dependable for a few jokes.

The latest film in the saga, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, was no different. But much like many other aspects of the movie, the humor has also been met with mixed reactions from fans.

Director and writer Rian Johnson recently defended his use of humor while speaking on the podcast Bullseye with Jesse Thorn, pointing out what he thinks is a consistent quality throughout the sci-fi series.

"That feels like the original movies to me. I would I guess argue at both sides of the spectrum, both in terms of the humor in The Last Jedi and the humor in the original films," said Johnson. "If you go back and revisit them, there's a lot more of it there then you remember and some of it is just wisecracky jokey… Just because it's coming from my own personal sense of humor, I'm sure there's a difference between each one of the movies and between this one, as well."

Johnson also said that he wanted to follow in the established tone of the previous film in the franchise, building off of what Lawrence Kasdan wrote in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

"I also thought in … The Force Awakens, one of the things I loved about it was how light on its feet it was and how it had that great Larry Kasdan crackle to the dialogue and there was always a sense of swashbuckling fun to it, I guess," Johnson said.

Some of the jokes might have felt out of place for some audiences, but Johnson wanted to inject the movie with some levity knowing that The Last Jedi would be a darker film.

"I was, in terms of a conscious choice, in terms of the humor, I knew that, because this was the middle chapter, I knew that it was gonna get a little darker in parts. I knew that we were gonna be throwing some rough stuff at these characters," Johnson said. "I also, quite frankly, knew that we were gonna be sitting on an island with Rey and grumpy old Luke debating religion for half the movie … If you were to ask me what does 10-year-old you think Star Wars is, it's fun. And so, it was really important to me to get humor in there, to have this thing be a blast on every level."

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now playing in theaters.