Star Wars' JJ Abrams responds to fan criticism of sequel trilogy's plan

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker may have been less divisive than Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, but Episode IX wasn't the huge hit many fans had hoped it would be.

Now, with the dust settled on the Star Wars sequel trilogy, JJ Abrams has reflected on one aspect of the criticism – namely, that the three films weren't necessarily planned effectively.

In an interview with Collider, Abrams – who directed The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker, the first and final entries in the new trilogy – was asked whether Episodes VII to IX may have benefited from having a plan from the very beginning.

Related: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker's biggest unanswered questions

"I've been involved in a number of projects that... have ideas that begin the thing where you feel like you know where it's gonna go, and sometimes it's an actor who comes in, other times it's a relationship that as-written doesn't quite work," he explained.

"Things that you think are gonna just be so well-received just crash and burn and other things that you think like, 'Oh that's a small moment' or 'That's a one-episode character' suddenly become a hugely important part of the story."

Addressing the idea that Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi may have disrupted his own direction for the trilogy, Abrams said that he's learned to "respond to the unexpected".

Related: Star Wars: The Last Jedi director confirms he didn't know about major death in Rise of Skywalker

"I feel like what I've learned... is that you have to plan things as best you can, and you always need to be able to respond to the unexpected," he argued. "And the unexpected can come in all sorts of forms, and I do think that there's nothing more important than knowing where you're going."

Reiterating the importance of "having a plan", the filmmaker added: "Otherwise you don't know what you're setting up. You don't know what to emphasise.

"Because if you don't know the inevitable of the story, you're just as good as your last sequence or effect or joke or whatever..."

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the entire Skywalker Saga are available on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K now, as well as on Disney+, while Rise of Skywalker is also on Sky Cinema Premiere and NOW.

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Rianne Houghton

Rianne Houghton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy.