Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson DISAPPOINTED by Empire Strikes Back as kid

Two years ago Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi hit cinemas and completely polarised audiences. The critics hailed The Force Awakens follow-up, while some fans hated the movie. Now director Rian Johnson has controversially revealed he was disappointed by Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back as a kid, even though it’s generally considered to be the best Star Wars movie. Of course, this consensus didn’t come about until the 1990s, so maybe The Last Jedi will be seen in a better light in the future?

Speaking with Uproxx, Johnson said: “As a kid, I distinctly remember being disappointed by The Empire Strikes Back.

“I think my dad took me when I was really young to see A New Hope.

“Yeah, no, I remember, especially in the context of Return of the Jedi, which as a kid I adored.

“And so, yeah, I remember very vividly. But then Empire slowly became my favourite one.”

On his change of heart over the years, he said: “Yeah. It sticks.

“That’s why that’s the one that, even though at that time I had that reaction to it, it stuck in me and it resonated with me.

“I remember the Prequels, that acrimony of the prequels. I think people forget exactly the tenor of the danger.”

READ MORE: RISE OF SKYWALKER ENDING WILL “PUT YOU AWAY” TEASES JOHN WILLIAMS

Speaking with The Observer, the director said: “I think that the fun and challenging part of it is to dive in, figure out what’s exciting and then figure out what it’s going to be.

“We’re doing something that steps beyond the legacy characters.

“What does that look like? To me, the blue sky element of it is what was most striking about it.”

By the sounds of it that means no familiar Skywalker saga characters, but something completely new in his upcoming Star Wars trilogy.

Knives Out is released in UK cinemas on November 29, 2019.