Rian Johnson

Rian Craig Johnson was born on December 17, 1973 in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Following the release of Looper, his third feature film, Rian Johnson had a general meeting with Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm Ltd.'s then-new president. After being called in for a second meeting, Johnson was offered to direct Episode VIII of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Johnson was shocked, and after putting thought into the offer, he accepted, and Bergman was again brought on as a producer. Johnson then met with Star Wars screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, co-writer of Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, and he met with Rick Carter, co-production designer of The Force Awakens, having a week-long story session. Weeks later, Johnson and Ram Bergman toured the Skywalker Ranch archives, where they examined Star Wars props, costumes and art. In the Skywalker Ranch library, Johnson found the World War II book Vertical Warfare, which inspired the opening bombing-run sequence of the film. Early in the writing process, on Dave Filoni's advice, Johnson re-watched the Mortis story arc from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series.

By early summer of 2014, Johnson was deep in the writing process. The film's opening crawl was the first thing he wrote. He started by analyzing each of the characters from The Force Awakens and determining what would challenge them the most. That understanding formed his foundation for the story and set pieces. Throughout July, Johnson scheduled a series of films to be screened for Episode VIII's cast and crew. The titles selected each represented a tone or aspect he wished to convey. The series included the samurai film Three Outlaw Samurai, the Soviet drama Letter Never Sent, the World War II film Twelve O'Clock High, the war epic The Bridge on the River Kwai, the adventure film Gunga Din, the romantic thriller To Catch a Thief, and the war drama Sahara. During the screening series, Johnson was invited to join the informal Intellectual Property Development Group to help visualize the Force-bond between Rey and Kylo Ren. Johnson had a minimalist approach, and they decided to simply intercut between Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver. By August, Johnson had completed the basic story, and he shared his ideas with production designer Rick Heinrichs. In a late addition to the script, Johnson added the three flashback scenes to add more character motivation, taking inspiration from the Japanese film Rashomon. His first draft of the script was completed by the end of 2014, with the title Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, which Johnson came up with very early in the writing process.

The design process for The Last Jedi began during the summer of 2014, during the shooting of The Force Awakens. Johnson contributed dozens of ideas to the film's designs, including the nun-based Caretakers and the Millennium Falcons coffin-shaped escape pod, which was based on a vessel from the C. S. Lewis novel Perelandra. One of Johnson's major design choices was removing the helmet from Kylo Ren; this was done to reveal more of Ren's character and to showcase Driver's performance. Johnson also created the look of Snoke's throne room, comparing Snoke to the titular character from The Wizard of Oz and adding theatricality inspired by Anthony Minghella's production of the opera Madama Butterfly. In developing Snoke's mannerisms, Johnson and actor Andy Serkis sat down and talked about it before opting to base them in those of Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy.

While J.J. Abrams directed The Force Awakens, Johnson requested him to change the film's original ending by swapping BB-8 for R2-D2 instead as the droid who accompanied Rey to Ahch-To. This was done by Johnson so R2-D2 could convince Luke Skywalker to train Rey by showing him an hologram of Leia Organa, his sister. Likewise, while developing The Last Jedi, Johnson was asked by Colin Trevorrow, the original director for Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, to include a shot of Rey and Poe Dameron meeting for the first time.

In 2015, while working with Heinrichs, Johnson envisioned building the Caretaker village set on Skellig Michael rather than using green screen, aiming to capture the real elements and interactive scenery. Subsequently, porgs were developed to digitally cover the local puffin population. On March 12, Johnson was publicly announced as the writer and director for Episode VIII. For an insert close-up of Luke Skywalker's gloved hand reaching for Han Solo's dice, Johnson's hand was used.

During production of The Last Jedi, Johnson filmed a cameo as a Death Star Trooper for the 2016 stand-alone film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and he received a special thanks. He also received a special thanks by the 2017 video game Star Wars Battlefront II. Johnson also collaborated with Star Wars authors Claudia Gray and Jason Fry, offering story ideas for Gray's novel Bloodline, and working with Fry on The Last Jedis novelization. Additionally, Johnson wrote a foreword for the book The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

On November 9, 2017, Lucasfilm revealed that Johnson will develop a new Star Wars trilogy, which will be separate from The Last Jedi and the episodic Skywalker saga. According to a statement made by Kathleen Kennedy in April 2019, Johnson is working closely with Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who were also developing their own Star Wars film series until they left over scheduling difficulties.

As stated in The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Johnson's earliest memory is going with his father to see Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope in 1977. The film had a positive impact on him, and he recalled playing with Star Wars toys. When A New Hope was released on home video in 1982, Johnson would often rent the VHS tape and watch it with friends. Johnson also acquired other Star Wars media, including records, novels, the holiday album Christmas in the Stars, and the book Industrial Light & Magic: The Art of Special Effects, which he called the most important Star Wars–related book he had. Overall, Johnson's biggest experience with Star Wars was talking about it with his friends. When Johnson went to see Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, he was at first disappointed, but over time, it became his favorite Star Wars movie. In 2019, Johnson returned to Skywalker Ranch to mix his film Knives Out with a team at Skywalker Sound.