Rian Johnson Talks ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ Plot, Tone, and Characters
By eelyajekiM
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Tuesday, January 10th, 2017 at 7:41 pm
At the end of the year, we will be getting a new Star Wars film. Directed by Rian Johnson, the plot of Episode VIII is still not known. Not only that, we don’t have an official title. But as we get closer, we will eventually learn more about the film.
Now, Johnson is talking a little bit about the movie while committing to staying vague and keeping things a secret. Check out what he had to say below.
Johnson talked to USA Today to address some of the key things many of us would like to know about the highly anticipated film. One of them being the plot of the film. Johnson talked about when the story takes place, saying “I don’t want to skip ahead two years. I want to see the very next moment of what happens.” He also confirmed that a significant part of the movie is about Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), why Luke is there, and what he’s going to do next. Of Rey, Johnson said:
“Part of what’s she’s dealing with is the realization that she has this power and this gift. She’s taking her first step to coming to terms with this thing inside her that she never knew was there and is just starting to reveal its potential.”
We pretty much got that idea when Disney and Lucasfilm announced the start of production for Episode VIII. In their video, we saw Rey trying to hand off the iconic lightsaber back to Luke, which was the point where The Force Awakens ended:
“I wanted to know more about each of them, and that doesn’t just mean information or backstory”¦ Figure out what’s the most difficult thing each of them could be challenged with now “” let’s throw that at them and dig into what really makes them tick by seeing how they handle that.”
So the film will address why Luke has been absent all these years. Does he feel like a failure after Kylo Ren fell into the Dark Side? What has he been doing all this time? And why did he choose that particular location?
While those questions may feel overly dark, Johnson wants Episode VIII to be humorous and entertaining as well:
“The creative work has felt like play. It’s felt resonant and meaningful because it meant so much to me as a kid”¦ I want [Episode VIII] to be a blast and to be funny and to be a ride the way The Force Awakens and the original Star Wars movies were.”
But as much as we learn about Luke, we will also learn about the saga’s new protagonist, Rey:
“It very much feels like what we all go through in adolescence, the dawning of this new chapter of our lives. A huge part of especially Rey’s character, something that was a really powerful part of her setup and something I really wanted to dig into with this.”
Star Wars: Episode VIII will be released into theaters on December 15, 2017.
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