One of the most common criticisms of 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the similarities to Star Wars: A New Hope. Even George Lucas had that bone to pick with the film, something Abrams says he was well aware of.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens director, J.J. Abrams sat down with Popcorn with Peter Travers to discuss his new film, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker. During this interview, he addressed those fan concerns, saying that those similarities were intentional. "There are a number of things that we obviously intentionally did in a kind of 'history repeats itself' mold, to say we are introducing this brand new cast of characters," Abrams said.

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He elaborated, saying, "This Stormtrooper who runs from the First Order. This scavenger who is living, literally in the wreckage of the history of the movies that we know. And this hotshot pilot, we don't know his history, but he's joined the Resistance to find Leia, years later, sort of unable to give up the fight because she can smell the smoke from miles away. Where's Han at this point, what is he up to?"

Abrams wanted to mix the old with the new, bring in existing characters and confirm their whereabouts. According to Abrams, all of this was a part of honoring the franchise's legacy.

He added, "Is there a big, giant, planet-sized weapon in Force Awakens? Yes. And does it blow up? It does blow up. And there are undeniable parallels, but in a way, because there had not been a Star Wars movie in a long time --the prequels were the ones that preceded it --I very purposefully wanted to sort of revisit the old in order to start and tell the new. And that was the challenge."

When it comes to The Rise of Skywalker, Abrams hinted that it wouldn't follow the same formula. "For those who hate it, I could not respect your opinion more." He added, "It just felt right to us at the time, and so does this one now."

Directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Keri Russell, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams and Carrie Fisher, with Naomi Ackie and Richard E. Grant. The film arrives Dec. 20.

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