‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Actor Defends Film’s Humor

The latest film in the Star Wars saga broke records and became the highest grossing film of 2017, but despite the financial success there is a vocal segment of fans who criticize the film. One common gripe among detractors was how the movie utilized humor.

But Domhnall Gleeson, who portrays General Hux in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, defended writer and director Rian Johnson‘s use of comedy in the film. The actor stopped by the Happy Sad Confused podcast from MTV, saying he understands why fans might have been let down by the new movie.

“If you expect it to be a certain way, and it’s not that way, you’re going to be disappointed. You can’t decide not to be disappointed. If you’re disappointed, you are,” said Gleeson. “I just – it’s my opinion that it was better to change things up than remain on the same kind of tramline sort of thing.”

The actor was involved in the movie’s first scene which Johnson used as an opportunity to ‘break the ice,’ so to speak. While the movie would explore some dark themes, it was also going to be fun as a Star Wars movie should be.

“And I thought Rian had tremendous respect for everything that had [come] before, but he also did his own thing,” Gleeson said. “And I think for a filmmaker like him, it would be foolish not to have him do his own thing.”

Johnson has had his detractors, but the fact remains that he’s made yet another successful Star Wars film and has impressed his bosses enough that they’re allowing him to helm a brand new trilogy set in the galaxy, unencumbered by the continuity of previous films in the franchise. Instead, Johnson will explore brand new locations with different characters than we’ve come to know and love in the saga.

“As we got to the end of Episode VIII, we had a great time working with [Lucasfilm president] Kathy [Kennedy] and with Disney and we kind of said, ‘How can we keep this party going? How can we keep working together?’” Johnson said. “And I kind of threw out there, like the most interesting thing to me would be to tell a new story told over three movies where we go someplace else. And we go, kind of the potential of like a wide-open blue sky of, let’s go to a different part of the galaxy. Maybe a different time. I don’t know…

“Let’s meet some new characters and let’s figure out what Star Wars means separated from some of the iconography that we’ve associated it with. Let’s take it someplace else and see what that would be like. That just seemed like a really interesting question to ask.”

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