SALT LAKE CITY — Rian Johnson’s upcoming “Star Wars” trilogy will move far, far away from familiar space, the director says.
In an interview with Observer, Johnson said figuring out a story that expands beyond “Star Wars” legacy characters and the Skywalker family has been part of the fun and challenge of developing his series, which doesn’t have a release date.
Rather than relying on existing material, Johnson and Lucasfilm are currently exploring the future of the series and figuring out the “essence” of “Star Wars.”
“We’re doing something that steps beyond the legacy characters. What does that look like? To me, the blue sky element of it is what was most striking about it,” the director said. “I know the way that I’m coming at it and what’s fun about it for everyone in Lucasfilm is figuring out, ‘what’s the next step?’”
Johnson’s comments echo a statement made to IGN last year. At the time, the filmmaker said part of the challenge of planning new “Star Wars” stories was moving beyond the series’ familiar iconography, which every movie — including spinoffs like “Rogue One” and “Solo” — have relied on.
“Once you say, okay, if it doesn’t have the Falcon; if it doesn’t have someone with Skywalker as their last name; if we don’t go to Tatooine, what is it?” Johnson asked.
The director previously oversaw “The Last Jedi,” which was met with split reception between critics and audiences — Rotten Tomatoes lists the movie at 91 percent fresh with a 44 percent audience score.
Aside from Johnson’s trilogy, “Game of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will also oversee a trilogy of movies. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the filmmakers’ original deal to write and direct all three films for Disney has been scaled back — instead, the duo will write story treatments for the trilogy and will write “at least one” movie instead of all three.
Herb Scribner previously wrote for the Deseret News that Benioff and Weiss’ trilogy will be the next to hit theaters in 2022.