According to multiple sources, The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is no longer developing a Star Wars trilogy for Lucasfilm.
What happened? We’re not entirely sure, but signs are pointing towards Johnson exiting on his own. Regardless, Disney just needed to cut down on their losses after over-betting on Star Wars with their last few films, including Johnson’s own ‘Last Jedi’ which ended up making $300 million less than its predecessor, JJ Abrams’ “The Force Awakens.” Not only that, but Johnson’s second chapter in the trilogy irked plenty of longtime fans to the point that they who vowed to never watch another Star Wars movie again. Hell, I know a few hardcores that have completely left the bandwagon altogether because of what Johnson did in ‘The Last Jedi.’
This isn’t necessarily a surprise, last month at the Sundance Film Festival I bumped into a Disney-ite, while lining up for the Shia Laboeuf film Honey Boy, who had confided that the the Johnson project was indeed scrapped. However, now that the rumor is all but confirmed as fact, this news does not strike me as surprising at all.
Don’t worry about Johnson. His upcoming movie, the murder-mystery "Knives Out," sounds incredibly promising and is gathering an impressive cast. Recently added to the mix [via Variety ] was Michael Shannon, Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, and Lakeith Stanfield.
So what’s next for Star Wars? Jon Favreau’s series, “The Mandalorian will be launched for Disney+. Also, a Rogue One spinoff series, for Disney+ as well, focused on Cassian Andor and, of course, Episode IX due for release on December 20th.
EDIT: Rian Johnson is denying this rumor. “No it isn’t true, I’m still working on the trilogy,” Johnson wrote on Twitter. “With all due respect to the [the site who broke the fake news], who I’m sure are lovely kind bros with good fraternal intentions.”
I’m sure there’s much more to come when it comes to Johnson and Star Wars.