Cantina Talk: Rian Johnson Knows How You Feel About The Last Jedi

March 20, 2019 | Story | No Comments

Things are surprisingly quiet on the Star Wars front right now, even though Solo is slowly but surely making its way to its release date and Episode IX is prepping to shoot in a few months. But, as everyone should know by now, there's always something stirring in the galaxy far, far away. (For all we know, there's a new Death Star under construction right now…) Need to get caught up on all the latest? You've come to the right place.

Rian Johnson Won’t Be Scared Off By Fans

The Source: Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson himself.

Probability of Accuracy: If Johnson doesn't know his own mind, we should all be worried.

The Real Deal: For those worried that Rian Johnson’s trilogy of new Star Wars movies would be less ambitious than initially planned after his Star Wars: The Last Jedi was met with some fan rebuke for breaking some long-held beliefs, rest your mind. Things seem to be going just fine. "I feel like every Star Wars thing that ever gets made has a big, loud response because Star Wars fans are passionate and that’s what makes them awesome," Johnson said when asked about the response to The Last Jedi by Fandango’s Erik Davis as SXSW. "I don’t think it’s possible if you’re really telling a story you care about and having it come from your heart it’s just not possible to be intellectually processing what everyone else wants. Nor would it be a healthy thing, I don’t think that’s a good way to tell a story." Hear that, internet?

All the Things You Never Saw on Screen—Revealed!

The Source: The novelization of Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Probability of Accuracy: This comes with the official seal of Lucasfilm, and the input of Rian Johnson himself; it’s very accurate.

The Real Deal: In case you missed it, the new novelization of Star Wars: The Last Jedi features input from Rian Johnson—it also features a bunch of new material and explanations for things that weren't actually seen in the movie, like Han Solo's funeral. For those who don’t want to read the entire book to find out what was added, io9 has a helpful list of the new additions to the story. Our choice for the most important? Probably the details about Supreme Leader Snoke’s backstory, but we're a little Snoke obsessed. Perhaps the most interesting tidbits, though, are the glimpses of Luke Skywalker's alternative life that he saw in visions from the Force itself. It’s almost enough to make you want to pick up the book for real, really.

The Return of the Most Unlikely Bad Guys Ever

The Source: Leaked toy packaging

Probability of Accuracy: Unless the leak is fake, this seems to be surprisingly real.

The Real Deal: In a surprising turn of events, a toy photograph for the forthcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story has given fans a tease that a piece of forgotten Expanded Universe mythology might be making a comeback. As noticed by Star Wars News Net, the villains for the Han Solo prequel appear to be a new take on the Cloud Riders, a criminal gang that first debuted in 1977’s eighth issue of Marvel’s Star Wars comic book, back when everyone involved thought that a version of The Magnificent Seven with a giant green rabbit was the best way to follow-up the movie. We can only hope that this suggests that Solo is going to be far more camp than the trailer has made it seem so far. (And also that Jaxxon, the giant green rabbit in question, is going to make an appearance; after all, he’s already been announced as a canonical character.)

The Force Awakened Earlier Than Folks Thought, Apparently

The Source: An episode of the animated Forces of Destiny series

Probability of Accuracy: This is 100 percent canon.

The Real Deal: The debut of the second season of animated shorts in the Star Wars: Forces of Destiny series answered a question fans never even knew they had—namely, where did Leia get her bounty hunter disguise from the opening of Return of the Jedi? The answer, it turns out, is that it came from a character that wasn’t created until some 30 years after that movie was released: Maz Kanata, who stole the helmet from the real bounty hunter that Leia impersonated. Does this detail explain more than really is necessary? Sure, but it also makes the connections between the original trilogy and the current trilogy all the stronger, and that’s almost certainly the point that Lucasfilm had in mind when the cartoon was made.

The Next Movie Is Going to Be 'All Out War'

The Source: One of the current Star Warriors

Probability of Accuracy: Can a tease really be accurate or inaccurate?

The Real Deal: Meanwhile, thoughts are already turning to what’s going to happen in Star Wars: Episode IX, with John Boyega—currently promoting Pacific Rim: Uprising—telling reporters that, even though he hasn’t read the script yet, he knows it’s going to be a war movie. "Next for me filming-wise is Star Wars: Episode IX in July, and they’ve officially given us a note to start training soon. I’m going to take a holiday before that, because I think Episode IX you know, regardless of where the story goes, and I haven’t read it by the way, is going to be all out war so I know that I’m going to have to do all I can and train for that.” On the one hand, this sounds like an exciting scoop, but on the other, the movie’s title is Star Wars. If this wasn’t going to be a war movie, wouldn’t that be a little … disappointing?