Before Rian Johnson turned in his draft ofThe Last Jedi, there were a couple of different versions lingering around the offices of Disney and Lucasfilm. According to Daisy Ridley,J.J. Abramswrote drafts forStar Wars 8andStar Wars 9before Rian Johnson took over and wrote what would becomeStar Wars: The Last Jedi. It’s no secret at this point thatThe Last Jediwound up being pretty divisive amongst theStar Warsfanbase. There were also quite a few out there who felt thatStar Wars: The Force Awakenswas too derivative ofStar Wars: A New Hope. With that in mind, it’s pretty interesting to hear that Abrams may have had a different vision forStar Wars 8.
This information comes from an interviewDaisy Ridleydid with the French publication, Le Magazine Geek. This particular bit of the interview was translated to English. With that in mind, this should be taken with the appropriate amount of skepticism. Even Ridley says this is what she “thinks” she knows about the situation. In any case, according to her, after writingThe Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams wrote drafts forStar Wars 8andStar Wars 9. Here’s what she had to say about it.
“Here’s what I think I know. J.J. wrote Episode VII, as well as drafts for VIII & IX. Then Rian Johnson arrived and wrote TLJ entirely. I believe there was some sort of general consensus on the main lines of the trilogy, but apart from that, every director writes and realizes his film in his own way. Rian Johnson and J. J. Abrams met to discuss all of this, although Episode VIII is still his very own work. I believe Rian didn’t keep anything from the first draft of Episode VIII.”
Considering how divisiveThe Last Jediwound up being, this is quite the fascinating development. But could J.J. Abrams really have written full drafts for the next two entries in the newStar Warstrilogy? In December of 2015, just afterStar Wars: The Force Awakenswas released, it was revealed that Abrams said he wished he were makingStar Wars 8based on Rian Johnson’s script. So a draft of what we now know asThe Last Jediwas already done at that point.
The truth could lie somewhere in the middle. It would make sense for J.J. Abrams to have possibly outlined where he thoughtStar Wars 8andStar Wars 9could go. At that time, he had no idea he was going to come back to directStar Wars 9. If that’s the case, Rian Johnson could have decided he wanted todo something differentthan what was outlined, leading us toThe Last Jedi.
We may never know what was in that draft ofStar Wars 8, if it does indeed exist. Now, J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio have to figure out how tosatisfy fanswith their new script forStar Wars 9after the events ofThe Last Jedi. It’s a tall order, no doubt.Star Wars: Episode IXis set to hit theaters on June 19, 2025, with filming set to begin this summer. This news comes to us courtesy ofStar Wars News Net.
