The Last Jedi continues to be extremely polarizing.
It did very well at the box office and enjoyed critical success but divided fans with a noisy hardcore segment rejecting Johnson’s work on the franchise.
In a recent French interview, actress Daisy Ridley disclosed the extent to which Johnson deviated from the original vision created by the Force Awakens maker Abrams.
This is one of the major factors which has annoyed the haters who are not able to come to terms with such an iconic and long-term story suddenly having a three-film finale without a clear arc and a narrative that changes each time a new director comes on board.
Ridley talked about the changing narratives in GEEK Le magazine.
She said “Here’s what I think I know. JJ (Abrams) wrote Episode VII, as well as drafts for VIII and IX.
“Then Rian Johnson arrived and wrote The Last Jedi 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 JJ 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.”
Fans believe that the most significant changes from the Episode 7 to 8 are related to the parentage of Rey and the baffling decision to prop Snoke as the lead villain and then killing him without properly exploring his character.
It remains to be seen whether Abrams will try and turn some wheels back towards his original plot in the last film of the trilogy.
Ridley emphasized how strongly she believed in Johnson’s version of her character’s future.
She further added: “We sometimes hear that actors from a blockbuster do not have the opportunity to express their opinions, thankfully this never has been my case regarding Star Wars. Every time I wanted to share my point of view concerning a scene or an idea about a script, people took their time to listen to what I had to say and a real conversation started.
“That being said, I am aware that I’m not a screenwriter nor a director, and when I find myself in front of Rian who tells me that it would be better to proceed like this or like this, I am always the first to say “Of course, you are right! No wonder you were given the job !“
