Rian Johnson Calls Seeing Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker a Really Special Experience

Following the success of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, many fans hoped that writer/director Rian Johnson would make a return to the galaxy far, far away sooner rather than later, instead opting to enjoy the experience of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as a fan instead of as a filmmaker, noting that it was a special experience not only as a fan, but also as a witness to what his former collaborators had concocted. Despite the release of The Last Jedi resulting in a number of fans inundating the filmmaker with harassment, it’s clear that it will take a lot more for him to lose his passion for the franchise.

“I had a blast, man. Made me so proud and seeing the heart and soul that [director] J.J. [Abrams] put into it,” Johnson shared with MTV News. “And seeing my friends who were in the movie just like, bring the whole thing to a conclusion. Yeah, for me as a Star Wars fan, it was a really special experience.”

This final film in the Skywalker Saga had the unenviable task of bringing a narrative that kicked off in 1977 to a final conclusion and attempt to offer fans of all corners of the franchise a fulfilling experience. While the film was a relative financial success, as any movie that earns a billion dollars worldwide is assuredly a “success,” The Rise of Skywalker earned the worst critical ratings of the entire saga. Some of the film’s biggest critiques are centered around the belief that Abrams made too much of an effort to appease fans instead of following an organic narrative.

Johnson previously shared his thoughts on the challenges of attempting to solely satisfy fans with any film.

“I think approaching any creative process with [making fans happy] would be a mistake that would lead to probably the exact opposite result,” Johnson shared during an interview with Radio.com. “Even my experience as a fan, you know if I’m coming into something, even if it’s something that I think I want, if I see exactly what I think I want on the screen, it’s like ‘Oh, okay,’ it might make me smile and make me feel neutral about the thing and I won’t really think about it afterwards, but that’s not really going to satisfy me.”

Back in 2017, Lucasfilm announced that it had tapped Johnson to develop a new trilogy of films, though no official updates have been offered on those projects in the years since.

What do you think of Johnson’s remarks? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!