STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Director Rian Johnson Asked J.J. Abrams To Alter The Ending Of THE FORCE AWAKENS
Happy Star Wars Day! Here's a very interesting new tidbit regarding the original ending of The Force Awakens, and why it was altered as a favor to Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson.
To celebrate Star Wars Day, EW has shared new details on a significant alteration to the original ending of Star Wars: The Force Awakens that was made by J.J. Abrams as a favor to Rian Johnson, who will continue the story this December with Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
You'll no doubt recall that when Rey finally makes her way to see Luke on Ach-To she's accompanied by Chewie and Artoo, but it was actually another little droid that made the trip in the first cut of the film:
"Yes … The big [favor] was, I asked if R2 could come with Rey, and if BB-8 could stay behind with the Resistance. Originally it was BB-8 who went with Rey, which makes sense for the story in a way. But I asked, ‘Can you do me this solid and switch the droids?’”
We already know that the mystery of Luke's exile is somehow linked to R2-D2, and it was the iconic Astromech droid's reactivation towards the end of The Force Awakens that ultimately led The Resistance to his old master.
Is this why Johnson requested the switch? The director doesn't spell it out, but does suggest that Artoo will be pivotal to the audience discovering why Luke went into exile in the first place, something Johnson says "the entire movie explores."
Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15. Have a great Star Wars day guys, and May the Fourth be with you.
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Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.