Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director and co-writer J.J. Abrams revealed what surprised him the most about the previous Skywalker Saga film. Abrams directed the first film in the new Star Wars trilogy, The Force Awakens, but handed the reins over to writer/director Rian Johnson for The Last Jedi.
"I felt the biggest surprise was how dark Luke was," Abrams told Rolling Stone. "That was the thing that I thought: 'Oh, that was unexpected.' And that’s the thing The Last Jedi undeniably succeeds at, which is constant subversion of expectation. The number of things that happened in that movie that aren’t the thing you think is going to happen is pretty fun."
Previously, Abrams insisted The Last Jedi did not undermine his ideas for concluding the trilogy or derail a consistent plotline across all three films.
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.