Rian Johnson has been hard at work on Knives Out and the upcoming sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. The filmmaker works with some of the biggest stars in the world on his whodunit mysteries, including Ethan Hawke, Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Kathryn Hahn, and Dave Bautista. However, Johnson is eager to return to the galaxy far, far away following his work on Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi.
His take on the eighth installment in the Star Wars Skywalker Saga was controversial, to say the least, with a Rotten Tomatoes score that perfectly encapsulates the divide amongst the fanbase. The film has a 91% fresh score from critics, making it one of the franchise's most well-received projects. However, with an audience score of 42%, it clearly wasn't as loved by everyone who saw it. The film took risks with Luke Skywalker, changing his character from the last time we left him in Return of the Jedi. For some members of the audience, it worked. For others, it was the worst representation of a beloved character they had ever seen.
Nevertheless, Johnson, who has also helmed projects such as Looper and one of the greatest Breaking Bad episodes ever to reach the air, wants to continue his work on Star Wars. Reports began surfacing years ago regarding the director's trilogy in the Star Wars universe. However, it's been over five years with little news to come from it. During an interview with Empire, Johnson shared the status and hopes for his future with the Disney product.
"I've stayed close to Kathleen [Kennedy] and we get together often and talk about it. 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."
Star Wars Has Been Too Busy for Johnson
Rian Johnson has been too busy with Knives Out to work on the Star Wars franchise. However, Star Wars has been too busy to work with Johnson too. Following his entry into the universe with The Last Jedi, they have since concluded the Skywalker with The Rise of Skywalker and followed that up with The Mandalorian on Disney+. In addition, the Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Star Wars: Visions have all premiered on the streaming service over the past few years, keeping Disney busy. Now they have Andor arriving in a few weeks and Ahsoka coming next year. Kathleen Kennedy discussed the scheduling conflicts in the past, saying, "Now, everybody's so busy."
"Now, everybody's so busy — genuinely busy and working on things. 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."
Whether you want to see more of Rian Johnson in Star Wars or to see him stay as far away as possible, one thing is for sure: It's going to be a long time before we see his trilogy arrive on the big screen.