Rian Johnson’s Next Move: Could He Return to Star Wars — and What It Would Take?

Why fans, creators and studios should care now: the real barrier between Rian Johnson and the Star Wars future

Hook: If you’re tired of scattered rumores, online toxicity and studio spin, you’re not alone — the big question on many fans’ minds in 2026 is simple: Could Rian Johnson come back to Star Wars — and what would it take? This matters because the answer shapes how major franchises treat directors, how creators decide to return, and how fans are invited to participate without wrecking careers.

Topline: the most important facts up front

Rian Johnson directed 2017’s The Last Jedi and was once attached to a proposed Johnson-led trilogy. That plan stalled after the intense online backlash to The Last Jedi and after Johnson signed a major Netflix deal to expand his Knives Out universe. In early 2026 Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy publicly acknowledged what many suspected: Johnson was “spooked by the online negativity.”

“He got spooked by the online negativity,” — Kathleen Kennedy, Deadline interview, 2026.

What matters now is less whether Johnson will personally return and more what it would take to coax auteur directors back to franchise filmmaking. That calculus will define the Star Wars future and the next era of franchise strategy.

Three plausible pathways to a director return — and why each could work

Below are three practical, producer- and studio-ready scenarios that could plausibly entice Rian Johnson or similar directors to re-enter the Star Wars universe in 2026 and beyond.

1) Protective production cultures: build a studio firewall around creators

Problem: The Last Jedi backlash made it clear that sustained, targeted harassment and fandom toxicity can derail a director’s willingness to continue working within a franchise.

What a protective production culture does: it creates an institutional buffer that protects directors from the worst of online hostility and studio messiness — not just lip service, but enforceable systems that keep creative focus on set.

• Public executive support: Executives publicly reinforce a director’s creative authority pre- and post-release. Kathleen Kennedy’s 2026 comments show the importance of leadership tone; studios that back their directors consistently send a signal that abuse won’t be normalized.
• Legal & contractual protections: Contracts with clear anti-harassment clauses, defamation support and stopgaps if online campaigns threaten a production timeline or a talent’s safety.
• On-set autonomy: Guaranteed creative autonomy for a defined scope (e.g., one trilogy arc, one stand-alone series) paired with periodic check-ins rather than micro-management. For financing and limited commitments, studios can lean on creator-first monetization and bounded-label models that reduce long-term exposure.
• Wellness & PR ecosystem: A dedicated team for mental health, media training and coordinated public communications that manage expectations without spoiling creative decisions.

Case study analogues exist: TV showrunners in the streaming era — especially those on creator-first platforms in 2024–2026 — have increasingly negotiated autonomy and protective support. A similar model scaled to Lucasfilm’s resources could make a director return more likely.

2) Fan management strategies: change the conversation before release

Problem: Toxic fandoms weaponize leaks, hot takes and review-bomb campaigns to exert outsize influence on franchise decisions.

What studios can do: proactively design release ecosystems that reduce the opportunity for harassment to shape outcomes.

• Tiered preview strategy: Create a controlled preview funnel — critics, creators, and key community leaders — that surfaces narrative issues early and allows for context-setting releases.
• Community-first engagement: Instead of reframing every controversy after it occurs, studios should build small, sanctioned channels (moderated Discords, community advisory boards) that allow respectful fan input without amplifying antagonism.
• Platform partnerships: In 2025–26 many platforms expanded anti-harassment enforcement and creator support funds. Studios can leverage these tools to protect creators’ accounts and to de-amplify coordinated attacks.
• Transparent marketing calendars: Unpredictable embargo changes feed suspicion. A predictable communications cadence reduces rumors and lowers the stakes of each story beat — a core tenet of modern digital PR playbooks that reduce noise.

These moves don’t eliminate criticism — they channel it into healthy debate. That reduces the “spooked” effect that Kennedy described and makes a director’s return psychologically and professionally safer.

3) Independent Star Wars side projects: let auteurs rehearse in the margins

Problem: Big, public trilogies bring enormous expectations. For a director with an established auteur voice (like Rian Johnson), the scale and scrutiny of a full trilogy can feel career-risking.

Opportunity: Offer low-stakes, high-creativity side projects — anthology episodes, short films, Visions-style experiments, or limited streaming miniseries that sit inside the Star Wars sandbox while remaining creatively distinct.

• Visions model: Star Wars: Visions proved an anthology format where outside voices could play with the universe without altering core canon. More such spaces let auteurs experiment without risking the saga.
• Director-first “auteur label”: A bounded “auteur” imprint within Lucasfilm that guarantees creative latitude, small budgets relative to blockbusters, and limited overlap with main saga continuity.
• Cross-studio co-productions: Allow directors to partner with third-party producers or streamers (e.g., a Johnson-led Knives Out-style mystery set in a remote quadrant of the galaxy) — a hybrid model that shares risk and creative control.

For Johnson, who’s invested in the Knives Out universe and busy with Netflix, a limited, self-contained Star Wars story with time-bounded commitment could be an attractive middle ground.

Concrete, actionable steps studios can implement in 2026

Below are specific, practical measures Lucasfilm — or any franchise-facing studio — can adopt if they want to coax back directors like Rian Johnson. These are actionable, measurable and aligned with industry trends in late 2025 and early 2026.

1. Offer a short, guaranteed “safe play” project with a fixed end-date

Pitch an 8–10 hour limited series or a two-film arc that has a legally guaranteed end-date and explicit creative control terms. This reduces long-term career exposure.

2. Create a Creator Safety Net clause

Insert contract language that activates a studio-led response team when harassment reaches predefined thresholds: coordinated attacks, doxxing threats, or targeted disinformation. The response team would coordinate legal action, platform interventions and public communications.

3. Fund a controlled public preview and feedback phase

Before global release, run a closed preview with trusted critics and community leaders, gather feedback, and, if necessary, issue contextual clarifications. This preemptive approach reduces misinterpretation-driven outrage.

4. Build a modular storytelling approach

Design stories so that a director can helm a single module that stands alone but contributes to a larger tapestry. That modularity lowers the stakes for both director and studio if reception is rocky.

5. Invest in robust, 21st-century PR and community teams

Hire long-term community managers, impartial moderators and liaison officers who can speak to fans’ concerns without amplifying the loudest trolls. Allocate budgets for platform moderation and creator support programs.

What Rian Johnson (or any auteur) could ask for — and realistically expect — before returning

If you were negotiating from Johnson’s perspective in 2026, here are tangible concessions and safeguards worth demanding:

• Guaranteed creative final cut for the work he directly directs (with negotiated studio notes limited to specific categories).
• Public executive endorsement from Lucasfilm leadership committing to defend the director publicly and to pursue platform interventions against harassment.
• Limited and defined press obligations — fewer junkets, embargoed early interviews, and media training to reduce troll-bait moments.
• Financial and legal protections in the event of reputational harm caused by targeted disinformation campaigns.
• Option for an independent distribution vehicle for side projects — co-financing with a streamer or distributor that shares creative control and timelines.

How fans can help — actionable steps to support healthier franchise dialogue

Fans wield enormous power over franchise futures. If you want directors like Johnson back, here are practical things individual fans can do today:

• Vote with attention: Support the work by watching on legitimate platforms, buying official releases and avoiding piracy, which amplifies noise around leaks and spoilers.
• Support healthy discourse: Upvote thoughtful reviews, share contextual analysis and avoid sharing fan-content that encourages harassment.
• Engage constructively: Join moderated fan forums and participate in studio-hosted channels where feedback is more likely to be heard responsibly.
• Call out harassment: Report coordinated abuse and support creators who are targeted by directing attention to official reporting channels on social platforms.

Risks and trade-offs: what studios and creators must accept

There’s no magic button. Protective cultures and better fan management come at a cost: reduced viral unpredictability, increased time and budget commitments to community moderation, and sometimes, slower marketing cycles.

Studios must accept that a creator-first approach can mean fewer immediate “safe” hits but more sustainable creative ecosystems. For auteurs, a return requires concessions too — sometimes narrowing the universe they can alter, or accepting constraints to safeguard longevity.

What the data and 2026 trends tell us

By early 2026, industry trends point toward more creator-first deals and platform accountability: major streaming services expanded creator protections and harassment mitigation tools in late 2024–2025, and studios began piloting protected-release playbooks in 2025. These shifts reduce the structural barriers that caused directors to step back after high-profile controversies.

Combine those trends with the continued importance of franchise IP and you have a real incentive for studios to reinvent how they treat top-tier directors. The door is not shut. But reopening it requires institutional change.

Three realistic scenarios for Rian Johnson specifically

Based on the patterns above and Johnson’s public career moves (including his Knives Out deal), here are three targeted scenarios most likely to coax him back:

1. Short, self-contained Johnson Star Wars limited series — Johnson directs one 6–8 episode series set in an unexplored corner of the galaxy, with final cut, a guaranteed end, and a protective PR and moderation plan. Time commitment: 12–18 months.
2. Knives Out x Star Wars hybrid project — a Johnson-crafted mystery or genre piece that uses Star Wars’ outer rim as a backdrop but lives outside central saga canon. Co-financed with a streaming partner, this reduces creative risk and gives Johnson a familiar production model.
3. Anthology episode under an ‘auteur’ imprint — Johnson contributes a single film-length entry to a curated anthology series (Visions-style but live-action), retaining creative freedom and limiting public exposure.

Any of these could plausibly lead to larger commitments if reception is positive and the protective systems hold.

Conclusion: why this matters for the Star Wars future and franchise strategy

The question of Rian Johnson’s return is more than celebrity gossip — it’s a litmus test for whether a major franchise can evolve beyond the cycles of toxicity that fracture creative relationships. The solutions are practical, already emerging in the industry, and scalable. Studios that adopt protective cultures, smarter fan management and flexible side-project strategies will not only increase the odds of coaxing directors back — they’ll also build healthier ecosystems that benefit fans, creators and the IP itself.

Actionable takeaways

• For studios: Build a Creator Safety Net clause, offer low-stakes side projects and invest in long-term community management.
• For directors: Negotiate bounded commitments, demand public executive support and take advantage of anthology or limited-series formats.
• For fans: Participate in moderated channels, support official releases and push platforms to enforce anti-harassment policies.

What to watch next

Keep an eye on Lucasfilm’s public strategy under new leadership (following Kathleen Kennedy’s 2026 departure) and any official announcements about creator-first programs or anthology expansions. If Lucasfilm greenlights an “auteur” imprint or contracts a director-protection pilot, that’s the clearest signal that a return is possible.

Call to action

If you want ongoing, verified coverage on this story and other franchise evolutions, subscribe to our newsletter and join the conversation in our moderated comment boards. Tell us: if Rian Johnson came back to Star Wars, what kind of project would you want him to make? Share this article, leave your thoughts, and help shape the healthier fandom that could coax auteurs back to the galaxy far, far away.

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