Sig, hvad du vil om Star Wars: The Last Jedi, men Episode VIII formåede i dén grad at ryste fanskaren. Kritikken fløj i alle retninger - mod Disney, mod Kathleen Kennedy, mod instruktør Rian Johnson - men ifølge ham selv er det netop nøglen til at skabe god Star Wars-underholdning. Disney ser muligvis anderledes på sagen i dag.
I et interview med Polygon i forbindelse med premieren på Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery sammenligner Johnson dele af sit arbejde på det nye detektivmysterie med The Last Jedi. Han var fuldt bevidst om, at han gik i en mere udfordrende retning med nogle af temaerne og budskaberne i den tredje Knives Out-film, men han drager paralleller til arbejdet med Star Wars - og til, hvordan skabere ikke bør være bange for at behandle franchisen med fløjlshandsker.
"Having grown up a Star Wars fan, I know that thing where something challenges it, and I know the recoil against that," siger han. "I know how there can be infighting in the world of Star Wars. But I also know that the worst sin is to handle it with kid gloves. The worst sin is to be afraid of doing anything that shakes it up. Because every Star Wars movie going back to Empire and onward shook the box and rattled fans, and got them angry, and got them fighting, and got them talking about it. And then for a lot of them, got them loving it and coming around on it eventually."
"The same thing goes for religion, for me. People who are raised outside of faith sometimes think it's this touchy thing that you have to handle with kid gloves," fortsætter Johnson. "I grew up very Christian. It was a very personal thing for me. I'm not a believer anymore. I'm no longer a Christian. But when I was... You're constantly rattling the box for yourself. You're constantly being offended by things. But then it's not like that just shuts off [the real world and how it challenges your beliefs]."