Rian Johnson Admits His Planned Star Wars Trilogy Won’t Happen

Rian Johnson, the director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, has confirmed that his planned Star Wars trilogy is now “effectively dead.”

Johnson, who also directed the acclaimed Breaking Bad episode “Ozymandias,” spoke about his experience with the Star Wars sequel and the fallout from the film.

In an interview, Johnson said that working on The Last Jedi was creatively freeing. “We made that movie in this beautiful, fearless little bubble, and the reality is, once you dive in and start doing the creative work, there isn’t a lot of room in your head for the notion of external pressure,” he explained.

Despite the film earning well and meeting Lucasfilm’s expectations, it divided fans, particularly over its portrayal of Luke Skywalker and its sense of humor. Johnson recalled dealing with criticism on social media.

“Before I made the Star Wars movie, when I was very, very active on Twitter, if someone said anything mean about me, I felt like I had to fix that. Having grown up as a Star Wars fan, I think the love and the hate are two sides of the same coin, and it’s all passion for what the thing is. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to deal with when it’s coming at you in a personal way.”

Johnson had agreed to develop a new Star Wars trilogy in 2017, which was expected to focus on new characters and possibly a different time period from the Skywalker saga. The project was pushed aside by May 2022 as Johnson became busy with other work, including the Knives Out films. He had mentioned that he intended to return to Star Wars after completing his projects in that franchise.

However, in July 2025, Johnson admitted that the trilogy never got off the ground. “A part of my brain will always be in Star Wars. It’s so much a part of me and the way I think,” he said, leaving the door open to potentially revisiting the galaxy far, far away in the future, even though the trilogy itself is no longer moving forward.

It’s clear that Johnson still feels connected to Star Wars, but fans will have to wait and see if he ever returns to the universe. His honesty about the creative pressures and fan reactions also sheds light on how challenging working on such a massive franchise can be.

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