In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Knives Out mastermind and The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson opened up about enduring fierce backlash from fans after returning to the Star Wars galaxy in 2017.
"In the moment, it's a complicated chain of reactions to it," Johnson admitted. "It never feels good to have anybody coming after you on the internet, and especially coming after you saying things that I I think I very much do not agree with about a thing I made and put a lot of heart and soul into.”
Despite the vitriol, Johnson acknowledged that the Star Wars fandom – himself included, as we’ll soon see – has always been passionate, sometimes overwhelmingly so.
“At the same time, having grown up a Star Wars fan ultimately let me contextualize it and feel at peace with it in many different ways,” he told the outlet.
Johnson freely admitted he was far from innocent in the Star Wars cycle of intense fandom response. As a college student, he and his friends were part of what he now calls “Prequel Hate Central”—a group that criticized George Lucas’s Episodes I–III mercilessly.
However, like many fans, his perspective shifted over time. Now, the prequels and their stars are enjoying a major renaissance. Hayden Christensen, once a lightning rod for criticism, returned as Darth Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka to overwhelming fan praise.
From convention crowds to online tributes, Hayden has had his own redemption arc, of sorts. His newfound popularity is a symbol of how time and nostalgia can reshape even the most divisive moments in the Star Wars saga.
Johnson pulled prequels and sequels into the same emotional loop:
“Now the prequels are embraced,” he observed. “I’m not saying that as a facile ‘Oh, things will flip around in 20 years.’ It’s more that this push and pull, and this hatred to stuff that seems new, this is all part of being a Star Wars fan."
He even saw his own experience with The Last Jedi reflected in JJ Abrams’s approach to The Rise of Skywalker, not as a reversal, but as a natural course correction.
“J.J. did the same thing with the third that I did with the second,” he explained, praising Abrams for evolving the story in ways that felt "most compelling going forward."
At the end of the day, Rian Johnson’s story is one many fans can relate to. He’s been both critic and criticized, and still loves Star Wars all the same. Critique and reappraisal are proof that Star Wars still matters to us all.
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