Oh, boy. Are you ready for some controversial quotes? Yeah, it’s coming. Ever since Star Wars: The Last Jedi hit theaters, there’s been a sentiment expressed by fans: that the new trilogy wasn’t planned from beginning. That they seemed to go on a film-by-film basis, and had no idea where things were going to end up, in spite of what some actors, like Adam Driver had to say about things.

But how true is that? Well, in a new interview with io9, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy went into detail on how they actually handled breaking the story for the new trilogy, and I’m sure it’ll be pored over by fans for years to come.

“Well, first of all,” Kennedy told the outlet about why the story of the entire wasn’t fully “cemented.” “When we sat down to do Force Awakens we spent a great deal of time working out all three movies and doing a real deep dive on the previous six and talking about that, understanding the mythology that George [Lucas] had created, bringing in people who had worked on those films, been a part of Lucasfilm. We brought in two or three different writers. There were, what? Eight of us usually sitting in that room and whiteboarding what the possibilities are and looking at character arcs, identifying. Because George had already gone to Harrison [Ford], Carrie [Fisher] and Mark [Hamill] to do the film. So we knew that was a given. That we were bringing them back into the trilogy and we’re introducing new characters. So we had a sense of where this was going.”

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“But the important thing is, I like to look at the first three movies that George did where he had different directors.” Kennedy continued, “He was really serving as the producing role in that. And we were doing a similar kind of thing, which is identifying genre and really allowing a filmmaker, and in the case of J.J. and Rian, huge Star Wars fans, and allowing them to get immersed, to find the center of the story and then make it their own. It’s obviously important, as George has always said, to have meaning in these movies. And as a director, I think every director should have something to say in what it is they’re trying to do and they need to find what’s personal for them. In addition to something like Star Wars, which has this incredible fan base that cares so deeply, that wants to believe that we’re as immersed in that process as they are—that we’re looking at the nuances and the importance of the mythology as they are. And I can tell you that that is absolutely what goes on. It’s endless conversations along those lines.”

Kennedy concluded, “So you say ‘cemented?’ I don’t think anything’s ever ‘cemented’ with Star Wars. It can’t be. It’s so rich with possibility that you don’t want to reach a point where you think you’ve made a decision, and then not leave yourself open to exploring other possibilities and other considerations. And when you get a lot of smart people in the room who are all Star Wars fans, that’s never going to stop. And I’ve certainly found, in the seven years now that we’ve been doing that, that that’s what makes this so fun. As we add people to the family and those voices become important voices to the creative process.”

So, in short, she looked at George Lucas’ process for the original trilogy and wanted to emulate that so that it gives directors room to express themselves and tell the story they want to tell. Secondly, she didn’t want to nail things down too soon for fear of snuffing out any creativity that another filmmaker could have down the line.

It’s an approach I personally enjoy, but I know many Star Wars fans would disagree.

What do you think? Let us know down below!

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SOURCE: io9