Over the last few days, there has been quite a bit of “Star Wars” news coming at us; so where do we begin? The big, exciting, and unexpected news is that we haven’t seen the last of Carrie Fisher. Yes, you read that correctly.
While many assumed that because Fisher, unfortunately, passed away before the release of ‘The Last Jedi,’ that her character would die between films, it turns out that Director J.J. Abrams is bringing her iconic Leia back for ‘Episode IX‘ via previously unused footage.
“We desperately loved Carrie Fisher,” says Abrams. “Finding a truly satisfying conclusion to the Skywalker saga without her eluded us. We were never going to recast or use a CG character. With the support and blessing from her daughter, Billie, we have found a way to honor Carrie’s legacy and role as Leia in ‘Episode IX’ by using unseen footage we shot together in ‘Episode VII.’”
While it has been confirmed above that Abrams would use footage from ‘The Force Awakens,‘ Todd Fisher, Carrie’s brother, has now said that there will be the use of the footage from ‘The Last Jedi,’ as well. It should be put out there that because this hasn’t been confirmed by anyone actually involved with production on the film, this could not be 100% accurate information. Mr. Fisher actually stated in April 2017 that ‘Episode IX’ would feature footage of his sister, which was a statement that LucasFilm immediately shot down as untrue. So, now, I guess we wait and see.
Speaking of “The Last Jedi,” though.
From 1977 to 1986, Marvel produced a comic book series for the ‘Star Wars’ franchise and in 1991, the series was revived and has been going strong ever since. Now, in 2018, Gary Whitta and Michael Walsh have brought fans a new twist on “The Last Jedi,” by bringing you another ‘The Last Jedi’ comic. The new comic series from Whitta and Walsh is a six-part adaption of Rian Johnson‘s film— with some minor changes.
In an interview with Jedi News, Whitta, who co-wrote “Rogue One” and many other Star Wars related projects, discussed the recent uproar of negativity surrounding Johnson’s film, “Frankly, I’m disgusted by the treatment that Rian has received, he’s not just one of the most talented filmmakers working today but one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet in any walk of life, and both he and the film he made deserve far better.”
Whitta stated that, while he may have approached the film differently had it been him, he supports the film and the decisions Johnson made because he is not the same writer or fan that Johnson is. He called the film that Johnson created “far braver and more mature and more challenging” than what he could have written. Now that he adapted the film to a comic, though, did he take the fan feedback into consideration and change the things that they didn’t like?
The answer, no. It turns out the Whitta was writing the comic series before ‘The Last Jedi’ was released last December. There are things that are different about the comic compared to the movie, but not because the fans have demanded it.
“My approach when writing is not to worry about what other people want to see but what I want to see, and then hope that my own instincts as a Star Wars fan are on-point enough that other fans agree with the choices I made. You’ll not only drive yourself crazy worrying about what the fans want, you’ll wind up telling an inferior story. So all of the editorial decisions I made were driven by things I wanted to see, but without upending any of Rian’s intent,” Whitta said.
There is confirmation that Whitta has written new dialogue for Luke Skywalker, but other than that you’ll have to read the comics themselves to see what changes were made. We can rest easy, though, knowing that the story is in someone’s hands who has a deep love for Star Wars and that Whitta can add, interpret, riff off of, and take a different approach to the story but he can’t do anything that would fundamentally change the film’s intent or rewrite canon.
The fifth issue of the Marvel Comics adaptation of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” was released recently with the final installment scheduled for release on September 12.
