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Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been out for almost a month, and there are still a lot of lingering questions coming out of the film, including at least three controversies that proved to be very divisive among the fan community. Fortunately, director Rian Johnson appears to be on a whirlwind press tour and he’s debunking some of those moments by explaining his choices. Today’s Nerdist News is Force-skyping in with The Last Jedi answers that we’ve all been waiting to hear.

Warning: there are massive spoilers ahead for The Last Jedi. If you haven’t seen the movie, head to hyperspace now and come back later!

Join host and America’s top porg chef, Jessica Chobot, as she runs down the three major controversies from the film. First up, the return of Luke‘s blue lightsaber and his younger looking Force avatar during his confrontation with Kylo Ren on Crait. According to Johnson, all of that reflected choices made by Luke that were designed to get under Kylo’s skin. While the audience saw the destruction of the lightsaber that once belonged to Luke and his father, Kylo was knocked out and didn’t witness it. Seeing the lightsaber back in Luke’s hands only enraged Kylo, and that’s what it was meant to do.

Johnson also addressed the galaxy-spanning Force connection between Rey and Kylo. It’s true that none of the previous films established that power, although we have seen Luke and Darth Vader exchange a few Force words over a long distance near the end of The Empire Strikes Back. Johnson’s argument is that every Star Wars movie in the main saga has introduced new Force powers out of necessity to the plot, and this time he needed a way to get Rey and Kylo talking to each other without instantly being at each others’ throats. Plus, it led to shirtless Kylo Ren, an image that launched so many memes.

Finally, Johnson got around to dealing with Supreme Leader Snoke, the enigmatic ruler of the First Order. Everyone had a Snoke theory. Was he the First Jedi? The Last Jedi? Jar-Jar Binks reborn? According to Johnson, he purposefully withheld Snoke’s backstory because he felt that it would have hurt the film’s pace to include it. So, we may have to wait for a novel or some other ancillary media to give us Snoke’s story, unless J.J. Abrams finds a way to put it in Episode IX.

What do you think about Johnson’s latest Last Jedi remarks? Force ghost your way to the comment section below!

Images: Lucasfilm

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