With the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy now behind us, filmmaker J.J. Abrams recently reflected on the lack of forward planning for the trilogy as whole.
Originally Abrams was only ever supposed to direct “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” – the first in the new trilogy which had the difficult task of reviving a universe with a lot of baggage, establishing a foundation for other filmmakers to subsequently follow, create new characters (and marketing opportunities) multiple generations would love, and hopefully deliver a good movie in the process.
For the most part Abrams succeeded, ‘Force Awakens’ was a big hit financially and with audiences, even the critics liked it though there was the fair complaint of it being too much of a re-tread of ‘A New Hope’.
Lucasfilm then hired Rian Johnson and Colin Trevorrow to write and direct the next two films – the idea being each director built on what came before. However there wasn’t a laid-out road map as such, no strict story outline to follow – instead the directors were given the freedom to go in whatever direction they wanted.
Johnson’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” did just that – building on some things that Abrams established, whilst discarding some others and taking a few chances with characters and story. Critics loved the film which defied expectations at several turns, visibly going in a different direction to that which Abrams’ film seemed to be pointing towards.
When Trevorrow left his project and Abrams came on board, he then had the even more difficult task of trying to finish a story that seemed to have essentially gotten away from him, make adjustments from fan feedback to both his and and Johnson’s films, figure out a way to handle the death of one of the franchise’s key stars, and closeout not just this trilogy but the whole nine-film ‘Skywalker saga’.
The result, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” was a critical flop with many labelling it one of (if not the) whole franchise’s worst. It proved just as divisive as ‘Last Jedi’ with audiences albeit in a different way than last time, the actors were all visibly glad it was over, and the box-office remained solid if the softest of the three films.
Storywise ‘Skywalker’ pulled off some serious logic-defying leaps to get where it had to. It also catered (or pandered depending upon your POV) to the complaints about the earlier films from a very vocal, increasingly hostile fandom with different demands as to what direction the story should go and what elements of the franchise they consider sacrosanct.
As time has gone on, fingers have been pointed at Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy, Johnson and to a lesser extent Abrams for the sequel trilogy’s perceived problems with the common line of thought being had Abrams and Lucasfilm locked in a detailed three-movie story arc from the very beginning it could have avoided many of the issues fans had with the last two films.
Speaking with Collider this week to promote the release of “Super 8” on 4K UHD, Abrams was directly asked if he felt the new trilogy would have benefitted from having a plan right from the get go. He says:
“I’ve been involved in a number of projects that have been – in most cases, series – that have ideas that begin the thing where you feel like you know where it’s gonna go, and sometimes it’s an actor who comes in, other times it’s a relationship that as-written doesn’t quite work, and things that you think are gonna just be so well-received just crash and burn and other things that you think like, ‘Oh that’s a small moment’ or ‘That’s a one-episode character’ suddenly become a hugely important part of the story.”
That likely refers to Rey’s lineage – a small (deceptively so) throwaway moment in ‘Force Awakens’ led to much discussion online in the months after until ‘Last Jedi’ shot down fan theories flat.
Much of the upset over that film tied to that decision (and the handling of the Luke Skywalker character), leading ‘Rise of Skywalker’ to retcon Johnson’s creative choice and turn the identity of Rey’s bloodline into a major plot point the whole trilogy bends on.
In the interview Abrams acknowledges that sometimes having a set plan can get in a way even if ultimately its better the story does seem to be headed towards something:
“I feel like what I’ve learned as a lesson a few times now, and it’s something that especially in this pandemic year working with writers [has become clear], the lesson is that you have to plan things as best you can, and you always need to be able to respond to the unexpected. And the unexpected can come in all sorts of forms, and I do think that there’s nothing more important than knowing where you’re going.
I’ve had all sorts of situations where you plan things in a certain way and you suddenly find yourself doing something that’s 180 degrees different, and then sometimes it works really well and you feel like, ‘Wow that really came together,’ and other times you think, ‘Oh my God I can’t believe this is where we are,’ and sometimes when it’s not working out it’s because it’s what you planned, and other times when it’s not working out it’s because you didn’t [have a plan].
You just never really know, but having a plan I have learned – in some cases the hard way – is the most critical thing, because otherwise you don’t know what you’re setting up. You don’t know what to emphasize. Because if you don’t know the inevitable of the story, you’re just as good as your last sequence or effect or joke or whatever, but you want to be leading to something inevitable.”
The comments come as the “Star Wars” franchise sits in an interesting zone of quiet before a flood of “Star Wars” related TV series descend upon us in coming years while the film side of the franchise is still sorting out where to go next.
