Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has revealed the meaning behind the controversial 2017 film's ending scene.
One of the many aspects of The Last Jedi that divided Star Wars fans was its depiction of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) as a disillusioned hermit, as well as the character's death near the end of the film. Johnson gave his thoughts on these film elements during an interview with Empire. "The final images of the movie, to me, are not deconstructing the myth of Luke Skywalker, they're building it, and they're him embracing it," Johnson explained. "They're him absolutely defying the notion of, 'Throw away the past,' and embracing what actually matters about his myth and what's going to inspire the next generation. So for me, the process of stripping away is always in the interest of getting to something essential that really matters."
The second film of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Last Jedi, is one of the franchise's most controversial entries despite receiving acclaim from many film critics at the time of its release in 2017. The fan backlash grew to the point where several members of the film's cast and crew, including actor Kelly Marie Tran, became the victims of online harassment and bullying. Johnson himself was also the target of much hate online, to the point where it scared Shazam! director David F. Sandberg away from wanting to develop a Superman film out of fear of receiving a similar vitriolic response.
Despite the near-unending outrage towards him and The Last Jedi, Johnson claimed that his appreciation of the film has only strengthened with time. "I'm even more proud of it five years on," the Academy Award-nominee said. "When I was up at bat, I really swung at the ball." In describing the film, Johnson said The Last Jedi is a movie about what the Star Wars franchise means to fans such as him and "the power of the myth of Star Wars in our lives."
Johnson recently finished filming for Glass Onion, the highly-anticipated sequel to his 2019 hit Knives Out. Glass Onion will feature Daniel Craig reprising his role as Benoit Blanc, one of the main protagonists of the first film, along with a new ensemble cast of characters. Craig admitted recently that he had forgotten what Blanc sounded like and had to re-learn the character's southern accent during pre-production.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is available to stream now on Disney+.
Source: Empire