For more than a week now, fans all over the world have been rewatching and picking apart every single frame of the first trailer forStar Wars: The Last Jedi. Since Disney and Lucasfilm had been very quiet on the details about the movie up to that point, there was an awful lot of excitement, but there has also been some concern that this movie will just be repeating the story beats ofThe Empire Strikes Back. DirectorRian Johnsonhas put that theory to bed, albeit in a pretty snarky way.
Rian Johnsonis quite active on social media and, on a fairly regular basis, will engage with fans and even answer some question they may have. Recently. Someone on Twitter suggested thatStar Wars 8is just going to copyThe Empire Strikes Backand said, “Nothing new here.“Rian Johnsondidn’t seem to like that suggestion. Here is his response.
“Greg is right actually, I’ve spent the last three years justcopying Empire.”
Doing a little bit ofreading between the linesthere, it is clear thatRian Johnson, who both wrote and directed the movie, is being sarcastic and essentially shooting down that suggestion. That said, the concern thatStar Wars: The Last Jediwill be a rehash ofStar Wars: The Empire Strikes Backisn’t totally unfounded. Cast members have made vague comparisons at least tonally, to both movies and there are definitely going to be some story beats that sync up. A Jedi in training, the possible surprising reveal of someone’s parents, the bad guys going back on the offensive after suffering a huge defeat. So there could definitely be some similarities between the two movies.
Not only that, but after seeingStar Wars: The Force Awakens, it is possible fans could be worriedStar Wars: The Last Jediwill go the same route. WhileThe Force Awakenswas very successful, both critically and at the box office, there were very obvious and numerous similarities between that movie andStar Wars: A New Hope. Some didn’t like how much both movies mirrored one another and it is understandable that they may be worried that will happen again. ButRian Johnsonis avery different filmmakerthanJ.J. Abramsand it seems like he didn’t want to spend three years of his life retelling a story that has already been told.
We’ll have to wait until December to see just how similar both movies are, but even if they are more than a little similar, don’t expect that to deter fans from seeing the movie when it is finally released.Star Wars 8starsMark Hamill,Daisy Ridley,John Boyega,Oscar Isaac,Lupita NyOng’o,Gwendoline Christie,Adam Driver,Benicio Del Toro,Laura Dern,Kelly Marie TranandCarrie Fisher.Star Wars: The Last Jediis set for release onDecember 15, 2017.
