Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last JediDirector Rian Johnson provided an honest reaction to Kathleen Kennedy’s statements about his connection to the franchise. Johnson’s 2017 film in the series was widely controversial among viewers, and Kennedy recently indicated that this response is the reason the director has not come back to create more.Star Wars movies.
“He was frightened by the online criticism.,” Kennedy told Deadline in an interview that coincided with the announcement that she was leaving her position as president of Lucasfilm.Johnsonclearly disagrees with the executive, ashe turned to X to reply, writing: “lol zero spooked, sorry.”Look at his post below:
Kennedy also credits Johnson’s failure to return toStar Warsto the filmmaker’s agreement with Netflix to create and helm two moreKnives Out films, the second one,Wake Up Dead Man (2025), released in December. The executive continued to commend Johnson’s efforts in a distant galaxy, stating:
I believe Rian created one of the finest.Star Warsfilms. He’s a talented director and he became frightened. This is the challenging part. When individuals enter this area, every filmmaker and actor tells me, “What’s going to happen?” They feel a bit anxious.
The Last Jedican now be considered one of the most polarizingStar Wars movies, but it remained a huge success.The movie earned more than $1.332 billion globally., becoming the second-highest earning film in Disney’s sequel trilogy.
Although some audiences had concerns about the movie’s portrayal of established characters, especially Mark Hamill’s Luke, and its deviation from series conventions,The Last Jedicritics’ reviews were mostly favorable. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has a solid 91% critics’ rating, a significant increase from the 41% Popcornmeter score.
The popularity of this middle film in the sequel trilogy, which follows new characters Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), and Poe (Oscar Isaac) as they battle Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the sinister First Order, resulted in reports that Johnson would direct a standalone projectStar Warstrilogy. Years went by with little apparent advancement, however, andthe trilogy was named “effectively dead” in a THR report last November.
Even though Johnson made a recent statement, it seems there are no definite plans for him to return.Star Wars any time soon. Furthermore, experimenting with concepts for a possibleKnives Out 4, the filmmaker told Empirelast autumn that his next project “evokes the paranoid thrillers of the ’70s, and that it includesa subtle science fiction aspect to it.”
Still, Johnson recently told THR:“A portion of my mind will forever remain in Star Wars. It’s deeply ingrained in who I am and how I perceive things..”Although the director may not be soon returning to the world of the popular Disney franchise, it’s evident that the reaction toStar Wars: The Last Jedihas not prevented him from considering returning to the IP in the future.