Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Director J.J. Abrams Admits He’s Not Great at Endings

Expectations are riding high for the premiere of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The film will serve as the conclusion to over 40 years of storytelling, wrapping up not only the sequel trilogy that began with Star Wars: The Force Awakens but also ending the Skywalker Saga itself after nine entries. And some fans are wondering whether filmmaker J.J. Abrams is up for the task; in fact, Abrams himself understands that he doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to providing satisfying endings for his projects.

The director spoke with the New York Times ahead of the film’s premiere next week and recognized his own storytelling failings.

“I’ve never been great at endings,” Abrams explained. “I don’t actually think I’m good at anything, but I know how to begin a story. Ending a story is tough.“

Abrams never anticipated returning to the franchise after finishing his work on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but he also couldn’t resist the challenge of providing a satisfying ending to the revered saga of films.

“Sticking this landing is one of the harder jobs that I could have taken,” Abrams said. “But that was why it felt worthy of saying yes.”

The filmmaker previously spoke about how Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is meant to serve as a satisfying conclusion to the entire saga while also working as a standalone picture.

“Endings are the thing that scare me the most,” Abrams said to Entertainment Weekly. “This is about bringing this thing to a close in a way that is emotional and meaningful and also satisfying in terms of actually answering [as many] questions as possible,” he explained. “So if years from now, someone’s watching these movies, all nine of them, they’re watching a story that is as cohesive as possible.”

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is set to star a returning Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, and Billie Lourd. New cast members include Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, and Keri Russell, and the returning veteran actors are Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, and Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor. Leia Organa will be featured in the film using unreleased footage of the late Carrie Fisher from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will finally premiere in theaters on Friday, December 20th.