In an interview with Empire for its October issue, Rian Johnson has made it clear that he hasn’t forgotten about his trilogy of Star Wars films, and still has a burning desire to return to the galaxy far, far away.
“I’ve stayed close to Kathleen [Kennedy] and we get together often and talk about it,” he tells Empire of his long-awaited Star Wars series. “It’s just at this point a matter of schedule and when it can happen. It would break my heart if I were finished, if I couldn’t get back in that sandbox at some point.” For now, he’s hard at working cooking up two Knives Out sequels for Netflix – the first of which, Glass Onion, is arriving this December. Meanwhile, the Star Wars slate is looking similarly busy, with Andor weeks away from debuting, the return of The Mandalorian coming early next year, and Ahsoka to follow.
Johnson’s comments track with what Kathleen Kennedy told Empire at Star Wars Celebration earlier this year – that everyone involved has a full plate for now, but the films are by no means dead and buried. “Now, everybody’s so busy – genuinely busy and working on things,” Kennedy said a few months ago. “Rian had such a gigantic success with Knives Out that he’s very committed to try and get that done. So it’ll be a while. And we have to work three, five years in advance on what we’re doing. So that’s where that sits. But we love him.”
Read Empire magazine’s full The Last Jedi five-year anniversary interview with Rian Johnson in the Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery issue which also features fresh photos from Johnson’s personal archive across his filmography, from The Last Jedi and Looper, to Brick and Breaking Bad. Find the October issue on newsstands from Thursday, September 1st, or pre-order a copy online here.
