Rian Johnson Had ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Title From Jump

Last January, the title for Star Wars: Episode VIII was revealed to be The Last Jedi. Throughout 2017, fans were speculating the significance behind the title as well as who it may be identifying.

As it turns out, writer/director Rian Johnson had The Last Jedi as the Star Wars film’s title right from the beginning. During a Q&A with Collider, Johnson discussed this fact:

“I had that title from the word go, really before I even started typing the script, when I was still coming up with the story,” Johnson said “For some reason that title just seemed really, really right to me and it never changed.”

Johnson continued:

“And it felt so right to me that I was constantly petrified that it was either going to leak online or somebody was going to guess it because I actually thought it was a pretty obvious title so, here’s a secret. There’s like somebody at Disney and Lucasfilm who like monitors for leaks or potential leaks online so anytime an email would pop up with someone from that department I would hold my breath and click it and just ‘please don’t have guessed the title, don’t know the title’ and then [sighs with relief] thank god.”

Was the title for The Last Jedi truly the ideal title to settle on? Now that the majority of audiences have seen the film, given how the heart of the story lives (and dies) on Luke Skywalker, the meaning behind the title seems even more apparent and brings up interesting ideas for what’s to come in Episode IX. 

Here is the synopsis for Star Wars: The Last Jedi: 

“In Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of The Force Awakens join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks age-old mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past.”

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, the film stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, Frank Oz and Benicio del Toro.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is in theaters now.

Source: Collider