Rian Johnson asked J.J. Abrams to make a change to the end of The Force Awakens
Happy Star Wars Day! Today, we find out what change Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson asked The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams to the end of his film…
By now, you’ve probably seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens several times…at least I have. But, did you know that Star Wars: The Last Jedi director, Rian Johnson, asked the director of The Force Awakens — J.J. Abrams — to make one minor change to the ending of that film?
According to Entertainment Weekly, BB-8 initially made the trip to Luke Skywalker’s ocean covered planet of exile, Ahch-To. However, Johnson had the story for The Last Jedi in mind and asked Abrams to swap BB-8 out for R2-D2.
Image Credit: Lucasfilm
"Yes … The big [favor] was, I asked if R2 could come with Rey and if BB-8 could stay behind with the Resistance. 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?’"
And we’re glad he did, as Luke would not know who BB-8 was, and therefore, would add to the confusion he might experience at meeting Rey. Also, in the Force back vision, Rey has in The Force Awakens, she sees Luke Skywalker place his robotic hand on R2. It makes much more sense to have Artoo be returned to his master than it would, to have BB-8 roll around behind Rey, the entire time.
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Plus, if BB-8 is stuck on Ahch-To with Luke, Rey, and Chewbacca, who is going to save Poe Dameron’s backside, once the First Order attacks, in The Last Jedi. No, we’re very happy Rian Johnson got this moment changed.