Thanks to the back-to-back success of The Force Awakens and Rogue One, Disney’s retooled Star Wars universe has flourished into one of the biggest franchises in the business – big enough to rival even the Marvel Cinematic Universe for box office dollars. And things are just getting started.
This December, for instance, Rian Johnson will invite moviegoers back to the core Skywalker saga with the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It is, without question, one of 2017’s most-anticipated new releases, and such a pent-up excitement has led to scores of alleged story trinkets and leaked pieces of concept art finding their way online way, way ahead of schedule.
If you’re hoping to go into The Last Jedi blind – and more power to you – then we’d strongly advise you to avoid speculation like the First Order, but today’s Star Wars tidbit isn’t so much concerned with rumors and hearsay as it is about Rian Johnson’s unexpected contribution to Star Wars: Episode IX. He may not have had a hand in the actual script, that much we know, but it turns out The Last Jedi filmmaker did Colin Trevorrow a solid during production.
While appearing on MTV’s Happy Sad Confused podcast – the same podcast in which Trevorrow bigs up J.A. Bayona’s horrifying Jurassic World 2 – Colin Trevorrow confirmed that, yes, Rian Johnson helped shoot “one extra thing” in an undisclosed location while filming The Last Jedi. Ahch-To, perhaps? Or a new planet entirely?
“There was one little thing. It wasn’t an adjustment, it was just ‘Could you shoot this one extra thing while you’re in this place on this day?’ And he did, which was great. But, y’know, it’s part of the collaborative process that exists – everyone is in communication. There’s such a genuine want to get this right from everybody, and I think that one of the misconceptions is that there’s some kind of great corporate overlord that is dictating this story to everybody, and that’s what it’s going to be because that’s going to sell the most toys. The reality of it is that it’s a small group of people, but it’s actually, y’know, kind of large when you think about it – and none of them are corporate, all of them are creatives and all of them are genuinely, very sincerely, wanting to do the work of their lives in order to realize this.”
Star Wars: The Last Jedi shoots for theatres on December 15th, before Episode IX bows in May of 2019. Sandwiched in between those two Star Wars tentpoles is Chris Miller and Phil Lord’s Han Solo anthology film, which is still lensing in parts of England ahead of an expected release on May 25th, 2018.
