Did Rian Johnson Turn Down Directing Star Wars Episode IX? Here's The Truth

Rian Johnson left his mark on a galaxy far, far away in a big way when he directed "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." Released in 2017, it was the middle chapter in Disney's "Star Wars" sequel trilogy and had the unenviable task of picking up where J.J. Abrams' crowd-pleasing $2 billion hit "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" left off. It was a financial success but was intensely divisive. Still, recent reports suggested that Disney offered Johnson the chance to return for Episode IX, which ultimately became "The Rise of Skywalker." However, those reports appear to have been exaggerated.

"The Last Jedi" may have been divisive, but it still made $1.33 billion at the box office. Money matters above all else in Hollywood, and it's worth remembering that Lucasfilm announced development of a new "Star Wars" trilogy with Johnson directing before "The Last Jedi" even came out. So, it's easy enough to believe the studio would want him back for the Skywalker Saga finale.

However, in a profile piece by The Hollywood Reporter to promote the release of Johnson's "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery," the claim is made that the director was offered but turned down the conclusion to the sequel trilogy. Per THR:

Yet, while "Last Jedi" made good money and satisfied Lucasfilm enough for them to offer Johnson the next movie — which he politely declined — here at least was his first sustained taste of backlash.

"That's incorrect in the article, actually — I never was going to do it and never turned it down," Johnson said in response to a fan question about the THR article on Bluesky. So, there we have it. According to Johnson, he was always just going to direct "The Last Jedi" and leave the follow-up to someone else.

That someone else was originally going to be Colin Trevorrow ("Jurassic World"), who was hired long before "The Last Jedi" even came out. His version of Episode IX, titled "Duel of the Fates," was later canceled by Lucasfilm. That paved the way for Abrams to come back to finish what he started, resulting in the also divisive "The Rise of Skywalker."

"When I saw ['The Rise of Skywalker'], I had a great time watching it," Johnson previously said when asked about his reaction to "The Rise of Skywalker" merely as a fan. "Again, this is all about point of view. I never approach this as, like, a territory I'm carving out for my thing. In my perspective, J.J. [Abrams] did the same thing with the third that I did with the second, which is not digging it up and undoing — just telling the story the way that was most compelling going forward."

As the THR article noted, the backlash to "The Last Jedi" was intense, though Johnson always seemed to take it all in stride. All the same, it's not as though this resulted in him declining to direct another "Star Wars" movie. Rather, as he's told it, he never intended to direct Episode IX. He, in his own words, "never turned it down." This implies it wasn't offered to him. That's that.

Johnson, as mentioned, was supposed to direct a whole new "Star Wars" trilogy at one point, but that fell by the wayside. Despite any speculation as to why, Johnson has claimed that the success of "Knives Out" is what got in the way of that coming to fruition.

"Wake Up Dead Man" is in select theaters now and begins streaming on Netflix December 12, 2025.