Rian Johnson Explains a Big Change He Asked For At the End of The Force Awakens

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Happy Star Wars Day, everyone! And what better way to celebrate than to hear new tidbits about the making of the most current films?

According to an interview in Entertainment Weekly, The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson revealed that one of the changes he requested of J.J. Abrams as he was shooting The Force Awakens had to do with the final scene, and a certain droid.

Originally, The Force Awakens ended with Rey and BB-8 standing across from the long-lost-but-now-found Luke Skywalker. Why is that not in the film we saw? Says Johnson, “I asked if R2 could come with Rey, and if BB-8 could stay behind with the Resistance. Originally it was BB-8 who went with Rey, which makes sense for the story in a way. But I asked, ‘Can you do me this solid and switch the droids?’”

Said solid was done, and we now have a Luke/R2 reunion to look forward to in The Last Jedi! However, this is also good news for BB-8 fans. While it looked as though our favorite new droid was going to be left on the back burner while R2-D2 and Rey got to have all the adventures in the next film, knowing that leaving BB-8 with the Resistance was a conscious choice that  Johnson asked for specifically makes me think that he’ll have an important role to play in Poe’s storyline.

You’ve got to admit. The chemistry between Poe and BB-8 was undeniable from the very beginning of The Force Awakens, and I’m looking forward to seeing them team up again!

Wait a minute, are they actually my OTP? I’m so confused.

(via /Film, image: Lucasfilm/Teresa Jusino)

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Author
Teresa Jusino
Teresa Jusino (she/her) is a native New Yorker and a proud Puerto Rican, Jewish, bisexual woman with ADHD. She's been writing professionally since 2010 and was a former TMS assistant editor from 2015-18. Now, she's back as a contributing writer. When not writing about pop culture, she's writing screenplays and is the creator of your future favorite genre show. Teresa lives in L.A. with her brilliant wife. Her other great loves include: Star Trek, The Last of Us, anything by Brian K. Vaughan, and her Level 5 android Paladin named Lal.