Rian Johnson told X on Friday night that he silenced former Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy’s claims that he did not return to the Star Wars franchise after directing The Last Jedi because he was “terrified by the negativity online.”
In response to an IGN post summarizing the news, he wrote, “That was totally scary, I’m sorry.”
After 2017’s The Last Jedi, Johnson was scheduled to develop another Star Wars trilogy. However, the project never took off and they instead shifted their focus to starting the “Knives Out” series.
In his exit interview with Deadline, Kennedy revealed his position on why Johnson didn’t return. While she acknowledged that Knives Out took up a “huge amount of his time,” she claimed that she was “a little scared” by the fan backlash to The Last Jedi and decided to walk away from the project.
“I think he was intimidated by the negativity online,” Kennedy said. “I think Ryan made one of the best Star Wars movies. He’s a great filmmaker, but he’s scared. That’s the hard part. When people come into this world, I have all the filmmakers and actors say, ‘What’s going to happen?'” They’re a little bit scared. ”
In an interview with Rolling Stone last summer, Johnson said the trilogy never went deep into development and that “everything was very conceptual.” He explained that before any real progress could be made, “Knives Out happened” and the Star Wars project died.
“Nothing really happened,” Johnson said. “We had a lot of fun working together and they said, ‘Let’s keep going.’ I said, ‘Wow!’ Kathy and I went over the idea. In the short version, “wilderness action” occurred. I was busy making Knives Out, going to the races, and making murder mysteries. I would be thrilled if I had the opportunity to do that or do anything else with Star Wars in the future. But now I’m just doing my own thing and I’m very happy. ”
