Director JJ Abrams has offered some diplomatic criticism against Lucasfilm for how it handled the newest flagship Star Wars trilogy, with respect to an apparent lack of a narrative blueprint across each of the three films. As has already been widely discussed and passionately argued online, fans were shocked and disappointed at how many seemingly clear intentions and established storylines were disregarded across The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker.

Speaking with Collider, Abrams revealed that originally he was only slated to direct The Force Awakens. But when Colin Trevorrow dropped out on Episode IX, Abrams found himself in the unenviable position of inheriting an iconic series, and tasked with bringing a story he started to a conclusion–even though Rian Johnson, like Abrams before him, followed his own creative vision and took the story elsewhere in the middle. While Abrams never directly names Lucasfilm in his comments, he does allude to broader problems for directors and actors down in the trenches in all filmmaking.