The time has come to accept that Rian Johnson’s Star Wars trilogy will probably never happen. Even with how controversial The Last Jedi ended up becoming, it’s hard to imagine that there wouldn’t be anyone excited about the prospect of Johnson being in charge of his own trilogy. However, taking said controversy into account, along with other factors affecting the franchise and Johnson’s career, makes it highly unlikely that the movies will ever see the light of day.
In the lead-up to The Last Jedi’s release in 2017, it was announced that Rian Johnson, in addition to The Last Jedi, would be directing a new Star Wars trilogy with Ram Bergman producing. No details about the project were given other than that it would be separate from the Skywalker Saga and focus on a part of the franchise’s lore that had been unexplored up until then. Five years had gone by since then, and no additional details or updates have been given, leading many people to believe that the trilogy had been quietly canceled.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has recently confirmed that Rian Johnson’s Star Wars trilogy is on hold, having been put on the backburner, and while that isn’t the same as being canceled, it would make sense to treat it as such at this point. The fact that the first news about the trilogy in five years is that it’s officially delayed is hardly a good sign, especially when the aforementioned interview also has Kennedy saying that Star Wars isn’t about “trilogies” anymore. The entire thing paints an image of all plans to continue with Rian Johnson’s Star Wars trilogy being dead in the water and the people in charge just looking for the right time to make it official.
The idea of Johnson’s trilogy being dead makes sense when his effect on the franchise is taken into account. While The Last Jedi had a large number of supporters, there was an equally large number of people who hated it for its divisive story and handling of both old and new characters, and while many people feel that The Rise of Skywalker is a worse film, The Last Jedi is generally seen as having done the most damage to interest in the sequel trilogy and Star Wars, as a whole. Even if Johnson’s new trilogy would have done things completely different from The Last Jedi, having his name attached to a Star Wars project is likely going to be seen as a negative now, so Lucasfilm probably sees it as being in their best interest to keep their distance from Johnson.
Another factor to consider is Johnson simply being too busy for Star Wars now. Since The Last Jedi’s release, Johnson has been writing and directing the Knives Out franchise, with Knives Out 2 set to release in 2022 and two additional sequels picked up for Netflix. Not only that, but Johnson is also set to write and direct the upcoming series Poker Face for Peacock, which is also bound to take up his time. As such, negative opinion of The Last Jedi aside, it could simply be that Johnson has too many other things on his plate to be focusing on Star Wars right now.
Ever since the sequel trilogy ended with The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars has moved away from prioritizing movies and begun focusing on other fields, most notably television projects. Whether this is in response to criticism of the sequel trilogy or just a coincidence is unknown, but either way, Star Wars is currently doing things in a way that likely wouldn’t support Rian Johnson’s trilogy. With that in mind, in addition to his busy workload and other factors, it would make sense to not expect his trilogy to come out anytime soon, if at all.
Key Release Dates
Rogue Squadron
Release Date:2023-12-22
