[Editorial] Is Lucasfilm Protecting Rian Johnson?

So Star Wars: The Last Jedi came out, and it was slaughtered by half of the fans while the other half chose to embrace it. I was, still am, somewhere in the middle.

The more vocal haters sent hate mails / messages to director Rian Johnson, who has impressively risen above all the noise and hate; and went on to do Knives Out with an impressively assembled cast. Also, many who have seen it in the film festival circuits have lauded it as the best movie of the year and on track to go get a Best Movie nomination.

Rian Johnson, the man who "failed" Star Wars, according to some cry babies, could very well be a Best Director nominee in a few months time.

But right when the hate was on the rise, Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm announced that Johnson would go on to develop, write and possibly direct, a new Star Wars trilogy - adding even more boo-hoo from fans.

And from then until now, when Johnson was asked by any interviewer about this trilogy, he would say it's still coming.

Up until just a couple of weeks ago, he was asked again about the trilogy, and there was a change in his tune because he said, "if" it happens and not "yes" or "definitely". Although he later corrected himself in another interview, but that was already too late.

Too late? Many pundits have already said, without concrete proof, he's off the project. Because ever since David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have been announced to doing another separate trilogy, where would Johnson's trilogy fit? Especially when Bob Iger announced that there will be a slow-down when it comes to the Star Wars movies - they will come out every other year now instead of every year.

So if Johnson's movies are still coming out, they will only come out after 2025. That is just too far away to be realistic, as Johnson is becoming a very busy director.

Also, why would Johnson want to come back after all these backlash from fans, and after the success of Knives Out? Why would Lucasfilm want to risk doing another movie with him when he brings with him this baggage of fan-hatred? It makes no sense on either side to continue.

So why hasn't there been any official word on him parting ways with Lucasfilm? No official statement from either side?

Well, there were guesses that it's because Lucasfilm want the focus to be on The Rise Of Skywalker and The Mandalorian for now. And right after the last movie comes out, then they would announce the "bad news". So for now, Johnson has been asked to play-ball; just like how Ben Affleck kept saying he's still Batman even though everyone knew he's not.

But now, Benioff and Weiss were just announced they are no longer attached; that reasoning is now moot. Official statements were released from both the duo and Kennedy, citing "scheduling conflict" with the duo's new Netflix deal and Netflix couldn't wait that long. Another bad look on Kennedy for losing another set of directors.

So now, Johnson is still "attached"... The most divisive of the directors is the one that Lucasfilm is hanging on to the tightest...?

This doesn't make sense too. Or is Johnson really doing a new trilogy?

Or is there more to this? Because here's my guess:

All the major plot points that fans hated in The Last Jedi, including Luke Skywalker's death, were NOT Johnson's idea. It was all Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy.

This would make sense because Johnson's script would need Lucasfilm's approval. It's only logical. The trilogy and character arcs are all planned out right from the beginning, it's only logical. Otherwise it's going to look very silly on Lucasfilm if they had no clue where each character would end up by the end of the trilogy, right...?

Well, that's not what so many reports that came out in light of The Last Jedi. There were reports of saying Mark Hamill was dissatisfied with his character arc. Others said that Johnson didn't take any of Abrams notes and did his own thing.

But I'm going offtrack.

What I'm saying is, it feels like Lucasfilm is protecting Rian Johnson. Instead of letting him stand alone against the rabid fans, Lucasfilm is seen as standing behind him and even awarding him a trilogy after The Last Jedi, just for show.

Maybe Johnson was a great foot soldier for Lucasfilm, doing everything they have asked for. So in return, now, Lucasfilm is standing behind him. For whatever reason that may be, we will never know, but it just feels like that after the Benioff and Weiss incident.

Otherwise we would have heard Johnson's "scheduling conflict" excuse by now.