Going into Star Wars: The Last Jedi, fans have a whole lot of questions, and understandably so. After all, The Force Awakens introduced us to a ton of new characters and teased some very intriguing things to come. Given the secretive nature of the iconic franchise, answers have been hard to come by and while theories continue to run rampant across all four corners of the web, it seems we won’t get anything definitive until Episode VIII blasts into theaters.
Even then, though, fans shouldn’t expect to have everything addressed and wrapped up in a nice and tidy manner. While we’ll no doubt get some additional info on a few of the bigger mysteries currently floating around (who are Rey’s parents? Where does Snoke hail from?), not every question will be answered.
Or at least, that’s according to Lucasfilm head honcho Kathleen Kennedy, who said the following in a recent interview:
“I think Rian’s done an exceptional job of taking these new characters and some of the legacy characters and moving us to this next place. He doesn’t answer all the questions, I will say that up front. But there are certain questions he does answer in a really wonderfully provocative way, and I think there’ll be some surprises that people aren’t expecting.”
While it’s certainly a bit disappointing to learn that even after the next chapter in the saga we’ll still be left with a fair amount of questions, what Kennedy says here makes sense. Firstly, it’s nice that she’s giving us the heads up so fans can manage their expectations, but also, it’d be foolish to think that everything would be addressed in the upcoming film. After all, they need to keep at least a few things mysterious in order to hook us back in for Episode IX, right?
Star Wars: The Last Jedi zooms into theaters on December 15th. Word is that Johnson and Co. have rustled up a cliffhanger ending, too – not unlike Empire – which ought to leave Star Wars fans on edge right up until the launch of the aforementioned Episode IX in 2019.
The latter has been subjected to some fairly drastic changes of late, after J.J. Abrams (and screenwriter Chris Terrio!) was drafted in to fill the director’s chair left vacant by Colin Trevorrow. A new, December 2019 release date has also been confirmed, which tees up a potentially huge box office clash with the so-far unnamed Wonder Woman sequel. And yes, Patty Jenkins will take point at the helm for Diana’s second solo movie following that record-setting deal.