Damon Lindelof has revealed what it was like to be writing the Rey Skywalker-centric New Jedi Order film. The former writer of the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy-directed flick has not been coy about being sacked from Star Wars and each time he talks we get nuggets of information about what happened where the film was originally heading. Lindelof is a big Star Wars fan and his thoughts come from a place with intentions from someone wanting to root for the franchise and see it succeed.
In the latest episode of House of R podcast, Lost co-showrunner Lindelof and the show’s hosts discussed problems with Hollywood and franchises such as Star Wars, the reliance on nostalgia and more.
“The movie just needs to be great and give you feels. I was completely and totally out on Rogue One as a premise… Holy sh*t. This is f*cking amazing. I care about these people even though I know what the outcomes ultimately will be. Whatever process they went through in order to get the end result… I thought was a triumph and so that’s me being wrong.”
Damon Lindelof
The writer went onto explain how Lucasfilm actually liked his premise for the Star Wars New Jedi Order film and the themes it would dealt with. We learned in 2023 Rey would have been around 60 years old and potentially played by Helen Mirren. That changed at some point with Daisy Ridley returning to reprise her iconic role.
In terms of what Lindelof had planned for the story, he looked to do “the Protestant Reformation inside Star Wars”. A battle between nostalgia and revision. You can read Lindelof’s full quote transcribed by us below:
“I was fired of a Star Wars movie. They asked me, ‘What do you think a Star Wars movie should be?’ And I said, ‘Here’s what it should be.’ And they said, ‘Great, you’re hired.’ And then two years later, I was fired. And so I was wrong.
At least through that prism. What we were attempting to do, my partner Justin Britt-Gibson and Rayna McClendon and I, what we were attempting to do was to have this conversation in the movie, which is to say there is a force of nostalgia and there is a force of revision and and they are at odds with one another and let’s do the Protestant Reformation inside Star Wars and and it didn’t work. The conversation that the fandom is having without winking and looking at the audience and that didn’t feel necessarily that risky.
I may have been fired…they seemed to liked the premise it was just the writing was really hard. It was slow. The tone, getting it right, where it was inside of the canon. What its relationship was with Episode IX. Is it starting a new trilogy?”
Damon Lindelof
What do you think of Damon Lindelof’s comments? Let us know down in the comments section below.
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