Director Rian Johnson has discussed why his planned Star Wars trilogy didn’t work out in a new interview.

The filmmaker helmed Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2018, the divisive eighth episode on the franchise, and prior to that film’s release was scheduled to make a standalone trilogy for the franchise. That plan never came to fruition, however, with Johnson revealing that the success of Knives Out in 2019 meant he was pulled in a different direction.

“Nothing really happened with it,” he told Rolling Stone. “We had a great time working together, and they said, ‘Let’s keep doing it.’ I said, ‘Great!’ I would kick ideas around with Kathy (Kennedy, head of Lucasfilm). The short version is Knives Out happened. I went off and made Knives Out, and was off to the races, busy making murder mysteries”.

Regarding the details of the plot, he said it was “all very conceptual” and that there was no “outline or a treatment or anything”. When discussing any involvement in the franchise in the future, Johnson said: “It’s the sort of thing if, down the line, there’s an opportunity to do it, or do something else in Star Wars, I would be thrilled. But right now, I’m just doing my own stuff, and pretty happy”.

Rian Johnson’s next project with be Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the third part of his thriller franchise starring Daniel Craig. The film was recently announced as the opening movie of this year’s London Film Festival.

There haven’t been any Star Wars films since 2019’s The Rise Of Skywalker, although the universe has expanded in that time on television with shows like Andor, Ashoka, and Skeleton Crew. New films are on the way, however, with The Mandalorian And Grogu set for 2026, and the recently announced Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling, set for 2027.

Earlier this month, Star Wars legend Mark Hamill shared his dark pitch for a post Return Of The Jedi Luke Skywalker story.