Five years later, director Rian Johnson is still just as confident in his 2017 Star Wars film The Last Jedi as ever, and that even includes its sillier moments of levity. Some of the more vocal fans of the franchise claim that those bits of the movie were tonally disconnected from everything else, but that's not how he sees it.

It's no secret that Star Wars: The Last Jedi continues to inspire discourse among the fandom to this day. While the film is widely regarded as a success, and even the best Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back, there are still detractors out there who bash it for setting itself apart as a unique entry in the series. But as loud as the relatively few critical voices are, it hasn't deterred Johnson's view of his creation. In fact, he still stands behind the movie, down to its least popular elements.

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In a recent interview with GQ, Johnson spoke about many of his most notable projects, from Knives Out and Glass Onion to a famously divisive episode of Breaking Bad. Naturally, the discussion quickly shifted to The Last Jedi, and the seasoned director was quick to reiterate his feelings on the film, particularly with regards to how some fans see parts of it as strangely out of character for the series. "For me, everything in the movie is Star Wars, and everything in the movie, I can trace back to deeply, in a deep way, what Star Wars is for me," he explained with an air of reverence. "And I know that everyone has a different take. I know there are Star Wars fans who somehow think that Star Wars was a serious thing, like the Batman movies or something."

"Anyone who thinks that slightly goofy humor does not have a place in the Star Wars universe, I don't know if they’ve seen Return of the Jedi. There's literally a scene where Han Solo is like a cartoon, trussed up to a pole and a torch goes by him to light the fire, to cook him, and Han Solo does this," Johnson mimed trying to comically blow out the fire, just one part of the film that could have been a perfect end to the Skywalker saga. "Even the first movie, they're in the heart of the Death Star, and they're trying to do this desperate gambit to get out with their lives and save the princess, where they're pretending that Chewbacca is like their prisoner. The little imperial droid comes up, Chewbacca roars at it, and the droid like a scared dog goes [imitates a hilariously startled little mouse droid]."

"The slightly self-aware element of gleeful humor is something that is part and parcel to Star Wars," Johnson continued, adding further foundation to how proud he still is of The Last Jedi. "It's not the whole thing, and we get very serious in [The Last Jedi], as well. And I think that kind of brazen balance of those two things is also something that's part of Star Wars." It's a good argument he offers, and it's worth remembering that there hasn't been any Star Wars project without that bit of balance between humor and more serious business.

Granted, one could argue that Andor, a perfect rebellion story and one of the new Star Wars high points, has done away with much of the humor in favor of a much more subdued and intense style of storytelling. But it's also the exception rather than the rule. The Last Jedi will likely be remembered as a peak for the franchise during the foreseeable future, and Johnson himself clearly knows why.

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Source: GQ/YouTube