Rian Johnson’s New ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy Isn’t Dead Yet: Director Still Meets With Lucasfilm Boss and Says ‘It’d Break My Heart’ If It Goes Unmade

Despite that online halfwit insisting, “politics have no place in ‘Star Wars,’” or some nonsense about wokeness, I’m sorry to break it to you that George Lucas’ films have always been, in fact, political from the jump. It is an era where a totalitarian regime rules the galaxy with an iron fist wiping out all dissidents and agitators, after all.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Ruben Östlund and the cast of “Triangle of Sadness” convened for the first time since the sudden, shocking death of the film’s young star Charlbi Dean. The satirical dark comedy, which won the Palme d’Or in Cannes just four months ago, had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday night — just 15 days since the 32-year-old Dean died of an unexpected illness in New York on Aug. 29. “It’s a very emotional screening for us because of Charlbi Dean, our colleague, one of the main actors who passed away 15 days ago. We wanted her to be here, by our side, to share in this fantastic moment,” said Östlund during his introduction for the screening. He was joined on stage by stars Harris Dickinson and Dolly De Leon, who were clearly moved by the moment and hugged one another.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Natasha Lyonne’s upcoming Peacock detective series “Poker Face” has added three new cast members, Variety has learned exclusively. Brandon Michael Hall (“God Friended Me,” “Search Party”), Colton Ryan (“The Girl From Plainville,” “Dear Evan Hansen”), and Megan Suri (“Never Have I Ever,” “The Pisasch”) have all been cast in the show. As with past casting announcements for “Poker Face,” details on their characters are being kept under wraps. Hall is repped by Gersh, Viewpoint, and Felker Toczek. Ryan is repped by Gersh and Echo Lake Entertainment. Suri is repped by Entertainment 360.

This weekend saw the big premiere of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” at the Toronto International Film Festival. And if early reviews are to be believed, it would appear Rian Johnson has yet another major hit (and Oscar contender) coming our way.

Knives Out director Rian Johnson says he will “keep making” more sequels of the whodunnit film as long as star Daniel Craig is on board.Johnson was speaking at the premiere of sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery last night (September 10) at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).Addressing the crowd before the screening, Johnson said (via Variety): “My granddad Howard Johnson traveled here tonight, he’s in the audience. Granddad, you are my role model.

It beggars belief that what started out as an idle thought — to continue the adventures of detective Benoit Blanc, the world’s “greatest detective” — has resulted not in just the inevitable franchise placeholder but one of the most exciting, funny and downright enjoyable movies of the year. Shrewdly cast, it boasts one of the most brilliant screenplays of the year, not just in terms of its exquisite, laugh-out-loud dialogue and satirical barbs at pop culture but in the meticulous, meta plotting of a traditional whodunnit that keeps the mind ticking over from start to finish. Unusually for a recent Netflix presentation, hardly a minute is wasted, and it’s no surprise that a Christmas release is planned for an intelligent crowd-pleaser that hits a bullseye with every beat.

Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion” kicks off with a giddily entertaining opening: It’s May 2020, the early days of covid, and several old friends receive, one after the other, a box. It comes from their friend Miles Braun, the eccentric tech billionaire, and it’s an elaborate puzzle box; they get each other on the phone (in a series of playful introductions and dizzily frame-slicing split-screens) and figure out how to solve the puzzle of each level, before landing on the box’s ultimate contents: an invitation to a long weekend on his private island off Greece.

Zack Sharf Consider “Glass Onion” another triumphant case for detective Benoit Blanc. As evidenced by the enthusiastic reaction to the premiere screening Saturday, Rian Johnson has again charmed the masses at the Toronto Film Festival with “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” the hotly anticipated sequel to the 2019 hit whodunit. Johnson briefly addressed moviegoers before the movie began to play, giving a sweet shoutout to his grandfather. “My granddad Howard Johnson traveled here tonight, he’s in the audience,” Johnson revealed. “Granddad, you are my role model. You’re the reason I’m making movies today, I love you so much and I’m so happy you’re here.” 

Zack Sharf Detective Benoit Blanc is back in the first trailer for Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” Daniel Craig returns in the lead role of the murder mystery sequel, but this time he will be interrogating an entirely new ensemble cast: Dave Bautista, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Madelyn Cline, Jessica Henwick and Ethan Hawke. “Glass Onion” is set in Greece on the private island of tech billionaire Miles Bron, played by Norton, where another game of whodunnit will take place. The original “Knives Out” opened to rave reviews in November 2019 and earned $311 million at the worldwide box office, an impressive gross for an original script that’s light on action and heavy on dialogue. Johnson earned an Oscar nomination for original screenplay. Whereas Lionsgate released the first film, “Glass Onion” has the backing of Netflix after the streaming giant made a reported $450 million deal to acquire two “Knives Out” sequels.

Filmmaker Rian Johnson looked all ready and poised to join the “Star Wars” universe for a few years following the success of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” But on the way to making it, Johnson decided to do a relatively smaller, detective mystery comedy as a palette cleanser first. That film, “Knives Out” became a huge hit for Lionsgate, grossing $311.4 million off a $30 million budget.

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy and Tony winner Cherry Jones (Succession), Luis Guzmán (Shameless), Hong Chau (Watchmen) and Tony winner Reed Birney (Succession) have joined the cast of Peacock’s Poker Face, a mystery drama series starring Natasha Lyonne, from Rian Johnson, his T-Street banner and MRC Television.

We are mere days away from the release of Lucasfilm’s latest foray into the galaxy far, far away, “Andor.” And as with every major franchise nowadays, the release of a new project just means there will be plenty of questions about what’s to come next. And boy howdy, Lucasfilm has a lot of “Star Wars” TV content on the horizon, including what might be the most mysterious (and thus, interesting) project, “The Acolyte.” But as we get closer to production, at least we’re getting more information about who might star in the cast of the outlier “Star Wars” series.

In the Star Wars universe, it is not an unlikely thing to see a good character turn evil or an evil one turn good. The whole Skywalker saga is about the character of Anakin Skywalker turning from good to evil to back to good. These turns are often total swaps, completely different ends of the scale.

reported Empire Magazine. “It’s just at this point a matter of schedule and when it can happen. I’ve stayed close to Kathleen [Kennedy] and we get together often and talk about it,” Johnson told the publication, referring to the Lucasfilm president. “It would break my heart if I were finished, if I couldn’t get back in that sandbox at some point.”Johnson’s trilogy was announced in 2017 after his “Star Wars” directorial debut and had promised to feature “new characters from a corner of the galaxy that ‘Star Wars’ lore has never before explored,” according to IndieWire, which added that a parallel tagline was echoed by “Thor: Love and Thunder” director Taika Waititi — who is slated to have a “Star Wars” film in 2025.Johnson’s comments track with those made by Kennedy at the Star Wars Celebration earlier this year.

It’s been years since it was announced that Rian Johnson would take on a new “Star Wars” trilogy that was seemingly disconnected from the Skywalker Saga. But since that announcement, all we’ve heard is talk from Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy about how it will still happen eventually and Rian Johnson saying that he would still like to do it.

If you’re a fan of the “Star Wars” franchise, it’s sad to see how the sequel trilogy ended with a thud instead of the bang it deserves. “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” was meant to be this celebratory ending that would make fans cheer and bring to a close a series of films dating back decades.

John Boyega, who was the actor behind the ex-Stormtrooper turned Resistance fighter Finn, has made it known to everyone that his time making the Star Wars sequels was not a good one. Even though Boyega had such a negative experience he is still a big Star Wars fan and keeps up with all the latest projects, most recently talking about the Obi-Wan Kenobi show that streamed on Disney Plus. One of the biggest problems John Boyega had was the lack of meaningful representation throughout the trilogy.

“The Patient,” Gleeson responded enthusiastically, “Of course I would! He was really interesting, and I think there’s a lot I could do more [with him].”However, he continued, “I don’t see them making the call. I’m not sure anybody’s clamoring for a Hux sequel or prequel.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Academy award nominated filmmaker Rian Johnson and his frequent collaborator and editor Bob Ducsay will receive the inaugural Variety Creative Collaborators award at the Middleburg Film Festival in October. The award will celebrate their collaboration on films such as “Looper,” ” Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Knives Out” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” “We are thrilled to partner with Variety on this award and have the opportunity to celebrate the creative collaborations that are such an essential part of what makes great cinema. Rian Johnson and Bob Ducsay are the perfect team to receive the inaugural award for their many years of collaboration, most recently on the highly anticipated ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,’ which we are pleased to be screening during our festival,” said executive director of the festival Susan Koch.