Star Wars voice actor Sam Witwer is the latest to join the debate about Disney's sequel trilogy by claiming Rian Johnson didn't do his homework when writing and directing the divisive Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Discussing The Last Jedi's place in the trilogy, Witwer told Twitch fans during a Star Wars Battlefront II stream, "Last Jedi, to me, felt like a movie made by a guy who hadn't quite done his homework." He went on to explain, "I think Rian Johnson's a talented guy, but Bruce Lee didn't develop Jeet Kune Do without learning Kung Fu first. You can't reinvent Star Wars without knowing Star Wars first and he didn't -- for me -- make a compelling argument for why Luke didn't go and help his sister."
Witwer has voiced various roles in the galaxy far, far away since 2008, and famously provided vocals for Maul in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Although Witwer had credits in both The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker, he sat out The Last Jedi.
While Witwer made his feeling on The Last Jedi clear, he accepted that Episode VIII still has plenty of fans. "This is just my opinion, guys," he added. "There were a lot of things in The Last Jedi I found compelling in a Rian Johnson filmmaker point of view. They just didn't fit into Star Wars. I don't think he did his Star Wars homework. The themes, what it's about, what the characters are about. But as a standalone film, if I don't know what the Jedi are or who Luke is or what he represents, I think there's some compelling things in there. If that's meaningful to you, that's awesome."
Witwer isn't the only one to recently take a jab at The Last Jedi. John Boyega poked fun at Finn's showdown with Captain Phasma and has previously called Episode VIII "a bit iffy." Elsewhere, two of the franchise editors claim Johnson tried to undo the sequel trilogy. Although there are some who the movie, it has increasingly become one of the most divisive Star Wars entries to date.
The controversy surrounding The Last Jedi rolled over into J.J. Abrams' The Rise of Skywalker, as fandom is equally split on the Skywalker Saga's concluding chapter. Still, The Last Jedi was a box office hit and was more profitable for Disney than its successor. Johnson, meanwhile, has admitted catering to Star Wars fandom was a mistake, however, he still hopes to make his planned trilogy of movies.
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 is now available on Digital HD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD and Disney+.