Despite the divisiveness of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Disney has long been trying to figure out a way to flesh out the era with a follow-up movie, but one of the earliest plans to do so has finally been put aside. Beginning with 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens, the sequel trilogy ended in 2019 when Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker hit cinema screens. Since then, the franchise has largely avoided not just the sequel era, but making Star Wars movies in general.
Although the three movies combined to rake in a staggering $4 billion at the box office, the backlash from fans caused by the Star Wars sequel trilogy ultimately led Disney to alter its approach to the iconic space opera. Since The Rise of Skywalker, Disney+ has been inundated with Star Wars TV shows. Books, comics, and video games have also fleshed out the canon. That said, the sequel era and beyond have only really been gently flirted with by the franchise’s recent flagship efforts. This corrective reaction is set to end very soon, but not with the project that has been discussed since 2018.
Rian Johnson’s ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy Has Been Shelved At Disney
As revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, the Star Wars trilogy that was set to be made by Rian Johnson is “effectively dead.” The three-movie project was announced in the same year that Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi was released, which currently remains Johnson’s role contribution to the franchise. Since the announcement in 2017, there has been very little movement on Johnson’s trilogy, and now it doesn’t appear to be part of Disney’s roadmap going forward.
J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens set the Star Wars franchise up for a promising trilogy. Despite largely rehashing 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope, the 2015 effort added just enough to the lore to serve as an exciting catalyst for a new era. When Abrams stepped back to serve only as a producer for the 2017 follow-up, he handed the reins to Rian Johnson, who wrote and directed The Last Jedi. Abrams then returned to his former role to replace Johnson for The Rise of Skywalker.
Why Johnson’s ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy Took So Long to Fade From Possibility
After The Force Awakens was generally well-received, fans objected to how Johnson’s movie treated franchise icon Luke Skywalker in the sequel, bringing Mark Hamill back to reprise the role for the first time in decades, only to perish in a death that many viewers felt was unworthy of the character. Other elements of the movie were also criticized, but Luke’s arc stood out among them all. With Johnson being the man behind The Last Jedi, fans were incredibly cautious of his prospective return, especially for three movies.
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Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Rotten Tomatoes Scores |
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Movie |
Year |
Tomatometer |
Popcornmeter |
|
Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens |
2015 |
93% |
84% |
|
Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi |
2017 |
91% |
41% |
|
Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker |
2019 |
51% |
86% |
The Last Jedi also resulted in disgruntled fans boycotting 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, giving the franchise its first-ever box office flop, despite the movie itself actually being pretty good. So, Disney was likely equally concerned about Johnson’s Star Wars reputation and the fallout of the movie he made. Since The Last Jedi, the only Star Wars movie has been The Rise of Skywalker, which needed to be made to conclude the trilogy, and didn’t involve Johnson.
Regardless, as can often happen with Star Wars, even the most disliked installments can be looked back upon with kinder eyes. This is especially true with Star Wars, as various TV shows have already redeemed and recontextualized certain efforts way after the fact. As such, it’s possible that Disney was waiting to see if this would happen for The Last Jedi, as shows like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka have edged closer and closer to the sequel era with positive results. The harsh truth of the matter is that The Last Jedi is still generally disliked among fans after almost a decade, so it makes sense that the pull has been plugged on Johnson’s trilogy.
Killing Johnson’s ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy Could Still Be Short-Sighted Given the Franchise’s Cinematic Future
2026 will bring Star Wars back to the big screen for the first time since 2019, after the franchise has gradually worked its way back into the fans’ good graces with a string of TV shows that have been largely well-received. While The Mandalorian and Grogu is more of a feature-length finale to The Mandalorian than a standalone effort, it’s a great way of testing the waters before a more traditional Star Wars movie arrives — two of which are slated for release in the next couple of years.
Both Star Wars: New Jedi Order, which will feature the return of Daisy Ridley’s Rey Skywalker, and Star Wars: Starfighter, which will focus on a new group of characters, are set after the sequel trilogy. Johnson’s canceled trilogy was also expected to take place during a similar era, although plot details were never really made all that available. If New Jedi Order and Starfighter are both hits, then an appetite for more sequel-era content could be on the cards.
Should that happen, then the decision to cancel Johnson’s trilogy could ultimately turn out to look like a bad one, despite it seeming logical at the time. On the other hand, it’s perhaps sensible to drip-feed sequel-era movies to Star Wars fans rather than having an entire trilogy in the pipeline. If Johnson’s first installment of said trilogy hadn’t performed well, Star Wars‘ measured crawl back to the box office could all have been for nothing, and there would still be two more of those movies to make.
Why the End of Johnson’s ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy Is Actually the Best Thing For Him
Johnson’s career, both before and since The Last Jedi, speaks volumes of his talent; it’s just that he wasn’t the best choice to make Star Wars: Episode VIII. His work on 2012’s Looper and Netflix’s Three-Body Problem even prove he has impressive sci-fi credentials, and his contributions to Breaking Bad (including its best episode) also can’t be ignored. However, of all his non-Star Wars endeavors, one of Johnson’s most astounding career highlights is the Knives Out franchise with Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc.
2025’s Wake Up Dead Man will be the third installment in the semi-anthological murder mystery saga, and if it’s anywhere near as good as the first two, Johnson will have helmed an incredibly consistent trilogy. Although Wake Up Dead Man marks the end of Johnson’s current deal with Netflix, another recent Hollywood Reporter interview confirms the writer/director is “starting to formulate” ideas with Daniel Craig for more movies within the franchise.
Johnson would surely love a shot at Star Wars redemption if the chance ever arose, but having his trilogy canceled lets him focus more intensely on the adventures of Benoit Blanc. The Knives Out movies provide a blueprint for countless sequels going forward, and there is an ongoing thirst for more, which sadly isn’t true when it comes to the prospect of another Rian Johnson Star Wars project.
- Release Date
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December 13, 2017
- Runtime
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152 minutes
- Producers
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Kathleen Kennedy, Ram Bergman, Leifur B. Dagfinnsson