Unsurprisingly, the reactions to Star Wars: The Last Jedi have been swift and loud from all sections of the Star Wars fandom. The Last Jedi is a long movie with so many moving parts narratively that there’s a lot to dissect. There may be parts you loved, others you didn’t, and most that you feel just fine about. That’s, you know, a pretty typical moviegoing experience. But because it’s Star Wars, everything matters more. And I get it — I’m a diehard fan about certain things too, and when people start messing with my conception of canon then it can cause a little cognitive dissonance. Director Rian Johnson understands this too, and in an interview with Business Insider, he explains his own fan perspective.

Having been a “Star Wars” fan my whole life, and having spent most of my life on the other side of the curb and in that fandom, it softens the blow a little bit.

I’m aware through my own experience that, first of all, the fans are so passionate, they care so deeply — sometimes they care very violently at me on Twitter. But it’s because they care about these things, and it hurts when you’re expecting something specific and you don’t get it from something that you love. It always hurts, so I don’t take it personally if a fan reacts negatively and lashes out on me on Twitter. That’s fine. It’s my job to be there for that. Like you said, every fan has a list of stuff they want a “Star Wars” movie to be and they don’t want a “Star Wars” movie to be. You’re going to find very few fans out there whose lists line up.

And I also know the same way the original movies were personal for Lucas. Lucas never made a “Star Wars” movie by sitting down and thinking, “What do the fans want to see?” And I knew if I wrote wondering what the fans would want, as tempting as that is, it wouldn’t work, because people would still be shouting at me, “F— you, you ruined ‘Star Wars,'” and I would make a bad movie. And ultimately, that’s the one thing nobody wants.

And let me just add that 80-90% of the reaction I’ve gotten from Twitter has been really lovely. There’s been a lot of joy and love from fans. When I talk about the negative stuff, that’s not the full picture of the fans at all.