Star Wars: The Last Jedi Strikes A Balance Between “The Familiar And Unfamiliar”

In the two-year hiatus between The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, many of the franchise’s leading players were kept busy through a series of equally enticing projects.

John Boyega, for instance, is one of the many stars set to appear in Detroit, Kathryn Bigelow’s biting true-life drama that chronicles the 12th Street riot of 1967, while Daisy Ridley will soon be under investigation as one of the prime suspects in the Murder on the Orient Express. Perhaps more so than most, and thanks to Josh Gad’s constant badgering, Ridley spent a fair chunk of the downtime between The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi deflecting questions on Rey’s parentage and the meaning behind that evocative title. What began as a viral video between co-stars soon spawned an Internet meme, culminating in the launch of the sequel’s first teaser at Celebration back in April.

But once the Orient Express‘ marketing machine leaves the station in anticipation of its mid-November release, Ridley will no doubt be fielding yet more questions about Star Wars: The Last Jedi and her role in it. On the dark side of the Force, meanwhile, Adam Driver, who’s currently promoting his role in Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky, will be back to play the villainous Kylo Ren in Rian Johnson’s sci-fi sequel.

In an email exchange with The Huffington Post (via ComicBook), Driver touched base on how Johnson has “created new rules” for the Star Wars universe, along with the director’s emphasis on characters and the story at hand.

[Johnson] created new rules for the Star Wars universe and balanced the familiar and unfamiliar very adeptly while respecting that his audience can handle ambiguity. Which you can see in his previous films. Characters and story are his priority.

Sporting a slightly reworked facial scar from the one seen on Starkiller Base, Driver’s Kylo Ren is expected to play a significant part in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as Luke begins his quest to locate (and possibly kill?) Supreme Leader Snoke. December 15th is the date for your diaries, and it can’t come quick enough.