Star Wars 9 director JJ Abrams on his ‘F*** it, RENEGADE’ approach to Rise of Skywalker

Back in 2015, Abrams helmed Disney’s first Star Wars movie which was a big reboot for the franchise. The Force Awakens was generally well received, although criticised for playing too heavily on the nostalgia and being too similar to A New Hope. And after the controversial and very different The Last Jedi from Rian Johnson, Abrams has revealed he has a different approach to The Rise of Skywalker. Speaking with Vanity Fair, the director said: “Working on nine, I found myself approaching it slightly differently.”

Abrams continued: “Which is to say that, on seven, I felt beholden to Star Wars in a way that was interesting – I was doing what to the best of my ability I felt Star Wars should be.”

“It felt slightly more renegade [on The Rise of Skywalker]; it felt slightly more like, you know, f*** it, I’m going to do the thing that feels right because it does, not because it adheres to something.”

Teasing Episode IX, he said: “This trilogy is about this young generation, this new generation, having to deal with all the debt that has come before.

“And it’s the sins of the father, and it’s the wisdom and the accomplishments of those who did great things, but it’s also those who committed atrocities, and the idea that this group is up against this unspeakable evil and are they prepared? Are they ready? What have they learned from before?”

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On scenes with Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd, who plays Lieutenant Connix, he said: “And so, there are moments where they’re talking; there are moments where they’re touching.

“There are moments in this movie where Carrie is there, and I really do feel there is an element of the uncanny, spiritual, you know, classic Carrie, that it would have happened this way, because somehow it worked.

“And I never thought it would.”

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker is released in UK cinemas on December 19, 2019.