The Star Wars franchise is in a fascinating place right now, as we're just months away from the release of J.J. Abrams' The Rise of Skywalker. The highly anticipated (and long) blockbuster will end the nine-film Skywalker Saga, which began back with A New Hope. The future of the franchise beyond Episode IX is a mystery, although The Last Jedi's Rian Johnson had been developing his own potential set of films. But his most recent comments cast a shadow of doubt over that possibility. Now Johnson is setting the record straight, and still plans to return to the galaxy far, far away.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is perhaps the most divisive entry in the franchise, as Rian Johnson took some narrative risks with his directorial debut in the franchise. While subverting expectations rubbed some fans the wrong way, Lucasfilm was clearly happy with this efforts. He got his own set of movies to develop out of it, and recently clarified his recent comments about the process. As he said:
Did I say 'if'? Oh god. I have no update at all. But I'm still working with Lucasfilm on it, and they're figuring out when they do what and everything.
Well, there you have it. While the Star Wars franchise is still ironing out the details of its future, Rian Johnson is still planning on working on a future endeavor with Lucasfilm. He's just not sure when that might be.
Rian Johnson's comments to ET are sure to be a relief for moviegoers who were worried about the state of his future movie. Following the announcement of Johnson's involvement, no news has come from Lucasfilm regarding that potential project's future. And that's because there's apparently no news to tell. At least, according to Johnson.
While Star Wars fans are eager for details regarding that future collaboration, it makes sense that development has moved forward in the past few months. After all, but Lucasfilm and Rian Johnson have been rather busy. The legendary studio has been gearing up for the release of The Rise of Skywalker, and the stakes have never been higher. As for Johnson, he's been promoting his upcoming murder mystery film Knives Out. So no one has really had the time to craft the future of the galaxy far, far away.
Related: Rian Johnson Had The Best Response To Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker's Final Trailer
It's currently unclear how the Star Wars franchise will continue on once the decades-long story comes to an end. Standalone films were seemingly put on hold following the disappointing performance of Solo. So Rian Johnson could seemingly go anywhere with his developing movies. Game of Thrones creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff are also developing their own movies for the franchise.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will hit theaters on December 20th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
