Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has been taking a lot of heat for the creative liberties he took in the sequel. The film, which took place directly after The Force Awakens didn’t have the narrative luxury some of the other film have, with some sequels having months or years long gaps. This may explain why the Knights of Ren didn’t make an appearance in The Last Jedi. But it doesn’t explain how Johnson came to the decision to have Luke Skywalker Force Project himself from across the galaxy to confront his nephew, Kylo Ren, on the mining planet of Crait.
But the director is now taking the opportunity to explain some of those decisions. One comes down to being unable to due to screen time, while the other, he had to go back to the old “Jedi Texts” to prove such powers exist. Check them all out below.
First the absence of the Knights of Ren. Though we got a small sneak peek of the group in The Force Awakens, they were noticeably missing in The Last Jedi. Since Kylo Ren was one of the major figureheads of the group, many thought they would make an appearance in The Last Jedi. However, that obviously wasn’t the case. And Johnson gave a rather simple explanation as to why they never made an appearance. He told Empire podcast (via MovieWeb): “We have a very full movie already there literally was just not room for another element.”
Although, some would argue that the remaining Knights of Ren became the Praetorian guards, Johnson squashed that theory pretty quickly:
“I guess I could’ve used them in place of the Praetorian guards but then it would feel like wasting them because all those guards had to die. And if Kylo had some kind of connection to them it would’ve added a complication that wouldn’t have helped the scene”¦truth is I just didn’t see a place for them in the movie.”
That’s actually a good thing for the Knights of Ren. For one thing, it gives J.J. Abrams to expand on their history in Episode IX, should he choose to do that.
As for those mysterious new powers we saw in The Last Jedi, I saw it as a way to expand the current Star Wars canon. Not having any new powers would make the mythology narratively stagnant. However, those new powers like Force Project, may not have been created just for the film along.
Johnson took to Twitter to prove that these powers weren’t created just out of thin air, and used the “Jedi Texts” to prove that these powers existed:
So now can we put “these powers don’t exist” to rest. And just in case you don’t believe these photos, they come from Star Wars: The Jedi Path, written by Daniel Wallace, which was published in 2011. But let’s face it, these arguments will not end anytime soon.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is out in theaters now.
[Source: Empire Podcast (via MovieWeb) | Rian Johnson twitter]
Plus, the Knights of Ren have a stupid name so no one really cares about them.
Comment by Rass — January 23, 2018 @ 2:17 pm
has any star wars director had to explain so many issues with a star wars movie before? stop explaining defending and just realize some folks didn’t like the movie and the choices you made. (I skipped it but find if funny how personal johnson is taking it by constantly trying to defend/explain the movie) is using a non canon book as proof really a solid foundation to build your house of force projection on.
Comment by michael interbartolo — January 23, 2018 @ 5:08 pm