Star Wars: The Last Jedi director and writer Rian Johnson stated in a recent interview that he’s “OK” if Episode IX director J.J. Abrams retcons parts of his movie.
When it was first released back in December of 2017, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was met with “mixed reviews” by fans for a variety of issues.
Some of the biggest criticisms of the movie were the film’s plot, Finn and Rose’s Canto Bight adventure, and the handling and unsatisfying deaths of Supreme Leader Snoke and Luke Skywalker.
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On a personal note, they also killed off the fan favorite Admiral Ackbar off-screen, which to me is unforgivable.
While all of those things cannot be undone, there were many other smaller aspects of the movie that fans were hoping could be retconned in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX.
From the premiere of The Force Awakens, leading up to the release of The Last Jedi, fans spent two years speculating things like the identity of Supreme Leader Snoke, a character who had no mention by name in Star Wars Lore, as well as who Rey’s birth parents were and why is she able to use the force so well.
Many fan theories circulated around the internet about these topics, with the most common theory regarding Snoke’s identity being that he was Darth Plagueis the Wise, who was Emperor Palpatine’s old master, and there was a constant debate over if Rey was either a Skywalker, Kenobi, or possibly a Palpatine.
Regardless of all this speculation, fans eagerly awaited the release of The Last Jedi, hoping that it would provide satisfying answers to these questions. However, many were disappointed with what they got in the end.
Instead of vindicating some of the community’s theories, The Last Jedi gave fans the revelation that Rey’s parents were “nobodies”, who sold her off as a child for drinking money, and killed off Supreme Leader Snoke before providing any background about the character.
As a lot of fans are left unsatisfied with what The Last Jedi gave us, many are hoping that some of these plot points could be retconned in Star Wars: Episode IX, which is a topic that the director Rian Johnson recently commented on.
In an interview at CinemaCon 2019 with MTV News, Johnson said that he hasn’t seen the script for Star Wars: Episode IX and that he wouldn’t have a problem with it doing something like retconning the lineage of Rey’s parents, stating the following:
"“Like I said, man, I want to let go of all my expectations. I want to sit back. I want to be entertained. I want to be surprised. I want to be thrilled. I want him to do stuff I wasn’t expecting him to do and just go along for the ride.”"
So in other words, Johnson is just looking to see a good movie when Star Wars: Episode IX is released, and wont be bothered if anything is changed from his entry into the franchise.
Some things will not be undone however. For example, while actor Mark Hamill suggested Luke didn’t actually die and really force projected himself to another planet, director JJ Abrams confirmed that Luke Skywalker died in The Last Jedi and will remain dead in Star Wars: Episode IX.
As for what could be changed, the identity of Rey’s birth parents is probably the most likely of things which could be redone in the upcoming film, and if could be fixed as simply as saying that Kylo Ren lied to Rey when he said her parent’s were “nobodies”, and that it was done to keep her from knowing that she is really a Skywalker (or something to that effect).
Additionally, Snoke’s past could be revealed and provide some small fan service that the initial theories that he was secretly Darth Plagueis.
Many fans are also speculating that Snoke is alive and will return in Star Wars: Episode IX, so that theory could also be a way to write him back into the movie, as in the The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise, he sought the ability to use the force “keep the ones he cared about from dying” before his apprentice killed him.
If he is in fact Darth Plagueis, and he cheated death once, then it’s possible that he didn’t actually die when Kylo turned on and appeared to kill him, meaning he could reappear in Star Wars: Episode IX.
For now, this is all speculation as not much is known about what Star Wars: Episode IX will entail, but more is expected be revealed at Star Wars Celebration on April 12, at the Ep. IX panel.
Star Wars: Episode IX will be released on December 20, 2019.