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1/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi..Rey (Daisy Ridley)..Photo: Industrial Light & Magic/Lucasfilm..©2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 2/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi..Rey (Daisy Ridley)..Photo: Jules Heath..©2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 3/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi..Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac)..Photo: David James..©2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 4/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi..Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)..Photo: John Wilson..©2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 5/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi..Finn (John Boyega) in a Ski Speeder on Crait..Photo: Industrial Light & Magic/Lucasfilm..©2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 6/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi..L to R: Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) and a Porg..Photo: Industrial Light & Magic/Lucasfilm..©2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 7/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. © 2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 8/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi Rey (Daisy Ridley) Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. © 2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 9/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi L to R: Finn (John Boyega) battling Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. © 2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 10/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. © 2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 11/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi BB-8 Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. © 2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 12/20 Benicio del Toro as DJ in THE LAST JEDI. 13/20 Laura Dern is Amilyn Holdo in THE LAST JEDI. 14/20 Kelly Marie Tran is Rose and John Boyega is Finn in THE LAST JEDI. 15/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi General Leia Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. © 2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 16/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi..Rey (Daisy Ridley)..Photo: David James..©2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 17/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi..Praetorian Guards..Photo: Industrial Light & Magic/Lucasfilm..©2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 18/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) Photo: Film Frames Industrial Light & Magic/Lucasfilm ©2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 19/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi..L to R: Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)..Photo: Jonathan Olley..©2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 20/20 Star Wars: The Last Jedi AT-M6 Walkers, along with Kylo's Shuttle Photo: Lucasfilm Ltd. © 2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Previous Image Next Image

None of the surviving legacy characters, nor the new ones such as Rey and Finn from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, will show up in that future trilogy.

“I think so, yeah,” Johnson tells me about his plans to introduce all-new characters. “I haven’t really dug in and started working with it yet, but to me the whole exciting thing about it is: Let’s explore a new corner of the galaxy!”

The Maryland-born Johnson saw Lucas’ original Star Wars at the age of four. Ever since, he has worshipped at the altar of George Lucas. So much so that Johnson enrolled in the USC School of Cinematic Arts in L.A. to follow in the master’s footsteps.

Yet Johnson now finds himself in a weird conundrum. He would love if Lucas personally loves The Last Jedi, not least because it is the final appearance of Carrie Fisher as Princess/General Leia. But Johnson had to push that notion out of his mind when he took over the reboot trilogy from Abrams after The Force Awakens re-established the magic from Lucas’ creation.

“You know, that is a really great question,” Johnson muses when I ask how eager he is now to please Lucas. “Because I grew up not only loving the movies, but looking up to him; he was a film idol to me. He was kind of like Luke Skywalker.

“So, on one hand, it’s very hard not to think about that element, about pleasing him. On the other hand, when George made the original films and the prequels, he was making them straight from his heart and trying to please himself. And that’s why those movies have a beating heart and that’s why they feel that they have a life and have emotion and that they’re real.