Rian Johnson shuts down claims he was 'spooked' by Last Jedi naysayers from return to Star Wars
Rian Johnson has rubbished claims he was scared of returning to Star Wars over online negativity surrounding 2016's The Last Jedi.
Rian Johnson is setting the record straight about the long‑running speculation that online negativity kept him from returning to Star Wars.
The filmmaker, who wrote and directed 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, responded directly after outgoing Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy suggested he had been “spooked” by the intense reactions that followed the film’s release.
Kennedy’s comments surfaced during her exit interview, where she reflected on Johnson’s future in the galaxy far, far away.
She implied that the director - whose film grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide - had been shaken by the polarised fan response, contributing to the stall of his previously announced standalone trilogy. But Johnson quickly contradicted that narrative. Taking to X, he wrote simply: “lol zero spooked, sorry.”
Kennedy herself acknowledged that Johnson’s packed slate, including his Knives Out franchise and upcoming projects, has been the primary obstacle. She noted that once he signed his Netflix deal, his availability became limited.
She told Deadline: “Once he made the Netflix deal and went off to start doing the Knives Out films, that has occupied a huge amount of his time.
"That’s the other thing that happens here. After Shawn [Levy] and I started talking about Star Wars, Stranger Things kicks in and he was completely consumed for a while by that. That’s what happened with Rian.”
She then suggested: “And then I do believe he got spooked by the online negativity. I think Rian made one of the best Star Wars movies. He’s a brilliant filmmaker and he got spooked. This is the rough part. When people come into this space, I have every filmmaker and actors say to me, ‘What’s going to happen?’ They’re a little scared.”
