J.J. Abrams Says He’s Not Repairing Star Wars Following The Last Jedi

In a matter of months, the world will find itself presented with a piece of Star Wars history. After decades, the Skywalker Saga will end with the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The film will be helmed by director J.J. Abrams who comes on the footsteps of Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi. Now, Abrams is opening up about his process returning to the trilogy after Johnson’s feature which the director says felt natural.

“I never found myself trying to repair anything,” Abrams told Empire Magazine in a recent interview.

“If I had done VIII, I would have done things differently, just as Rian would have done things differently if he had done VII. But having worked on television series, I was accustomed to creating stories and characters that then were run by other people. If you’re willing to walk away from the thing that you created and you believe it’s in trustworthy hands, you have to accept that some of the decisions being made are not gonna be the same that you would make. And if you come back into it, you have to honor what’s been done.”

As fans will know, Abrams did pass off the creative baton to Johnson with Star Wars‘ eighth episode. The director kicked off the sequel trilogy to start with The Force Awakens, and his return with The Rise of Skywalker has been met with generous praise. Many fans have been curious how Abrams felt about Johnson’s bombshell reveals from The Last Jedi, but it seems there’s no tension between the two. As the Skywalker Saga prepares to wrap, Abrams plans to weave in Johnson’s story choices seamlessly with his finale, so fans can expect to see lots more surprises when Star Wars‘ next film drops this December.

Are you excited to see Abrams wrap up this sequel trilogy after starting it years ago? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in theaters on December 20th and stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, and Carrie Fisher. Other upcoming Star Wars projects include a new film trilogy from Game of Thrones creators DB Weiss and David Benioff launching in 2020, a new film by Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, a new trilogy by The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, and The Mandalorian TV series on Disney+