It’s no secret that a number of Star Wars fans were furious with what Rian Johnson did with the franchise. Whether you loved Star Wars: The Last Jedi or not, the one thing everyone seems to agree on about the film is how divisive the response to it has been. From a slew of ugly online posts harassing Rose actress Kelly Marie Tran to the petition going around to have fans make a new “official” version of the episode, it seems The Last Jedi has brought up some of the worst traits of the internet.
The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has responded to the complaints about the high body count in his Star Wars movie. His tweet was in response to a transcript from the production of the original Star Wars trilogy where George Lucas revealed that he did not want to kill off any characters. When Twitter user Synchronic Design tried to use transcripts of a debate between George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan on whether or not to kill off a main character as a way of showing how The Last Jedi’s high character kill count has diverted from what Star Wars “should be”, Johnson tweeted back imagery from the original Star Wars film to support that he has stuck true to the aspects of how gritty that galaxy can get.
Huh. pic.twitter.com/ngeYpIx0DD
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) June 27, 2018
Johnson went on to explain the reasoning for his decisions in The Last Jedi, explaining that the deaths and decisions made the movie more personal.
and become soulless clean homages. But being alive means being messy, and it means every film won’t line up exactly with what every fan is expecting or wants. I’m sorry TLJ didn’t line up with your own certain pov, really, honestly I am. MTFBWY
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) June 27, 2018
While Rian Johnson’s comments may not be enough to get a number of Star Wars fans to forgive him, he does raise some great points. The release of The Force Awakens saw critics citing that the film felt too familiar and repetitive from things we had previously seen in the saga. Johnson knew that, for the franchise to thrive, the series had to explore new territory, even if that meant destroying the past, or audiences’ preconceived notions of what a Star Wars film should be.
All in all, the decisions made by Rian Johnson were personal, and overall they arguably did improve the movie as a whole.
The next film in the franchise, Episode IX, hits theaters on December 20, 2019.
Source: Twitter
