With Episode VIII set to open up right where The Force Awakens left off, director Rian Johnson was able to convince J.J. Abrams to make a very specific change to the ending of TFA before it was finalized for its theatrical release. What exactly did Johnson request to have changed? Entertainment Weekly provides us with the answer.
Johnson also reveals in the article that Luke’s self-exile to “Luke Island” will be a central focus of the overall plot in The Last Jedi, something fans simply cannot wait to see fleshed out.
[Rian] Johnson already had a to-do list for the Force once it awakened, and he was involved early enough to know exactly where Abrams and co-screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan were taking things. But when he saw the planned ending — that silent scene of Rey returning an exiled Luke Skywalker’s first lightsaber to him — he had a concern about who was accompanying her on that journey.
His request will end up returning a long-beloved Star Wars figure to the center of the action: R2-D2.
“Yes … The big [favor] was, I asked if R2 could come with Rey, and if BB-8 could stay behind with the Resistance,” Johnson says. “Originally it was BB-8 who went with Rey, which makes sense for the story in a way. But I asked, ‘Can you do me this solid and switch the droids?’”
