How Will The New 'Star Wars' Trilogy End? Lawrence Kasdan Says There's Ideas, But No Firm Plan
Yes, we know that Star Wars: The Force Awakens just opened about a week ago, so it might be a little early to already start talking about Star Wars: Episode 8. But at the same time, this new era of Star Wars was done well enough to get most fans excited to see where director Rian Johnson takes the sci-fi saga next.
If you're wondering whether or not J.J. Abrams and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan intricately planned how the next two installments should play out, the answer is mostly no. But Kasdan says there were ideas about the ultimate end of this new trilogy. Find out what Kasdan had to say, but beware of The Force Awakens spoilers from here on out!
When The LA Times asked Kasdan back in October if he and Abrams had plotted what would happen in the next two installments of the saga, which will be directed by Rian Johnson and Colin Trevorrow respectively, the writer said:
"Not really. ['The Force Awakens'] sets up a lot of stuff. There's a lot of people to deal with. And Rian took on that job and he's going to change it, because he's Rian. And I'm sure Colin will change what Rian does.... These movies will all be so different. Rian Johnson is a friend of mine — he's going to make some weird thing. If you've seen Rian's work, you know it's not going be like anything that's ever been in 'Star Wars.'"
But surely there was some thoughts on where the story should go next, which presumably informed the direction Johnson would take the characters and their stories, right? Kasdan says:
"We talked about [the ending] – and there's a certain thing that people who are involved with it feel should happen. There's a kind of movement that happens. But it's not in your control. It's going to veer off with Rian, and it's going to veer off another way with Colin."
So it just sounds like there's a basic idea for a story arc, but the intricacies of how it progresses is being put in the hands of Johnson and Trevorrow. That's probably best since the last time a firm plan was supposedly in place for a J.J. Abrams project, it was the TV show Lost, and some fans were not happy with the way that turned out, and most don't believe that the ending was truly figured out so far in advance.
The Force Awakens left things pretty open-ended as to where new characters Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) will head next, so anything is possible, and that's exciting as hell. The only thing we know for sure is that Rey will be doing something involving Luke Skywalker, and Kylo Ren was going wherever Supreme Leader Snoke was hiding out to complete his training.
What'll be really interesting is to see how Disney and Lucasfilm decide to continue the Star Wars franchise once this new trilogy concludes. The Force Awakens gave us a nice place to start a new era for Star Wars by taking elements of the original trilogy and mixing them up for a sequel that feels familiar but still original enough to head in a fresh direction. But that likely won't be a viable option for a fourth trilogy.
As of now, all we have are some wild theories as to how Star Wars Episode 8 will continue the story, with no solid idea as to where the story will go next, so we'll have to be patient as we can to see what details start coming out of the woodwork as development continues and production gets closer.
Star Wars: Episode VIII arrives May 26th, 2017 and there's no set date for Star Wars Episode IX yet, but we can bet it will arrive in May of 2019.