Rian Johnson Reveals One Word from The Last Jedi Opening Crawl!

While doing yet another interview during the D23 Expo last weekend, director Rian Johnson revealed to LA Times how he approached the opening crawl for The Last Jedi and what helped him make it right. Not only that, but Johnson also revealed an actual word from it!

 

 

From LA Times:

 

On the pressure of creating the perfect crawl:

“That was petri… Actually, you know, I just did it.” Johnson said. “I just started writing the draft. I wrote something, and it was terrible. And then I was watching one of the behind-the-scenes things and Lucas said, ‘It’s like writing a haiku.’”

“I realized as I was refining it what he meant. We didn’t finish the opening crawl and totally lock it until a few weeks ago actually. Because you’re like, ‘Do we need this word, do we need that word, what if we shift.’ It’s like a poem, there’s very little room for error in trying to get it just right. Which is awesome, it’s really fun.”

 

When asked if he was proud of any particular word, Johnson surprisingly revealed one from the actual The Last Jedi crawl:

“It would be funny if it was ‘poop,’” he said with a grin. “Which is a first for the ‘Star Wars’ universe. That’s the whole crawl, just the word ‘poop.’”

Then he answered seriously, turning to the side to avoid being caught on camera mouthing even one word from the highly secretive script:

Decimated,” he said, and he looked quite proud.

 

Now that’s a pretty powerful word. One can speculate that it would be the First Order that decimated something. Good guys don’t decimate things, right? 🙂

It could be in reference to Starkiller Base’s crucial blow over the Republic, which destroyed five planets, including Hosnian Prime.

 

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

 

 

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

Born on April 24, 1980.

Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

61 thoughts on “Rian Johnson Reveals One Word from The Last Jedi Opening Crawl!

  • July 18, 2017 at 11:17 pm
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    Smart money says it’s the Republic that is decimated.

  • July 18, 2017 at 11:18 pm
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    It’s probably something along the lines of, “The GALACTIC REPUBLIC has been all but decimated by the evil FIRST ORDER.”

  • July 18, 2017 at 11:19 pm
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    “The Republic has been decimated” – it could be the very first sentence as well.

  • July 18, 2017 at 11:39 pm
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    Everyone thinks it’s the republic. I’m telling you now it’ll be.

    With Kylo Ren’s perm decimated he returns to Snoke with new resolve to to prevent helmet hair.

  • July 18, 2017 at 11:39 pm
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    Devil’s advocate – Starkiller Base and a lot of First Order troops, officers, munitions, and equipment were decimated.

    • July 18, 2017 at 11:45 pm
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      Could be many things.

      With Poe Dameron’s jacket decimated Finn sought new attire.

    • July 19, 2017 at 12:10 am
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      After Kylo being defeated by Rey, the First Order computer monitors have been decimated.

  • July 18, 2017 at 11:44 pm
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    The First Order’s bank account has been decimated. Building a sun-killing weapon excavated into a planet ain’t cheap, kids.

    • July 19, 2017 at 3:35 am
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      But, we’re gonna build another one!!!! lol

  • July 18, 2017 at 11:45 pm
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    “Your hopes for seeing Luke Skywalker with a lightsaber will be decimated.”

    • July 18, 2017 at 11:58 pm
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      You shut your mouth!

    • July 19, 2017 at 12:51 am
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      Or seeing the Knights of Ren…

    • July 19, 2017 at 11:13 pm
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      Nooooooooooooooooooooo……….

  • July 18, 2017 at 11:56 pm
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    “After being friendzoned by Rey, Finn’s expectations were completely decimated.”

    • July 19, 2017 at 1:57 am
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      In turn, after being friendzoned by Finn, Poe’s urges were decimated…

  • July 19, 2017 at 12:07 am
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    After watching and deciding that TFA was actually ANH 2.0…Rian decimates JJ’s ideas and delivers us a new and improved story for episode 8!

    • July 19, 2017 at 12:20 am
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      I quite like TFA, but i agree with you 100%.

    • July 19, 2017 at 12:47 am
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      TFA mirrored ANH in only the most superficial of ways. Look deeper.

      • July 19, 2017 at 3:33 am
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        I looked and found ANH 2.0….want a list of all the similarities? I’m drinking and have time tonight. Then tell me it’s superficial.

        or explain your deeper analysis…

        • July 19, 2017 at 11:09 am
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          No one is supposed to do your own work (or make your brain function) for you. ANH and TFA are about very different things and the stories and characterizations evolves in very different ways. The similarities are mostly in the visuals. Want to know how they differ? Shut down your bias, watch the damn movies and THINK for yourself, instead of jumping on bandwagons 😉 Trust me, it isn’t all that difficult

          • July 19, 2017 at 3:09 pm
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            no bandwagon, I’ve said it from the beginning….a lazy rehash…ill follow up with every item that is the same for you

          • July 19, 2017 at 5:30 pm
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            I bet you can’t name EVERY item. No matter how long and comprehensive your list is you’re bound to leave something out that was the same between the two movies. Like… collarbones.

          • July 19, 2017 at 6:09 pm
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            A desert planet in which we find our hero, a droid in which vital information is hidden in, an “empire” that built a (now planet sized) super weapon, a hero who is at first in the wrong side but has a change of heart (Finn being in the first order, Han being a no good selfish smuggler), another cantina scene, an older, wiser mentor figure who dies..I’m sure there’s more but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. You shouldn’t jump to the conclusions and say people are “jumping into bandwagons” when the evidence is clearly there. Maybe his opinion is justified?

          • July 19, 2017 at 6:11 pm
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            Oh sorry wrong person. Lol

          • July 19, 2017 at 10:35 pm
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            good point!!!

          • July 19, 2017 at 6:11 pm
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            A desert planet in which we find our hero, a droid in which vital information is hidden in, an “empire” that built a (now planet sized) super weapon, a hero who is at first in the wrong side but has a change of heart (Finn being in the first order, Han being a no good selfish smuggler), another cantina scene, an older, wiser mentor figure who dies..I’m sure there’s more but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. You shouldn’t jump into conclusions and say people are “jumping into bandwagons” when the evidence is clearly there. Maybe his opinion is justified?

          • July 19, 2017 at 10:19 pm
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            oh, sooo many to list! When you sit down and start writing them, it’s almost unbelievable that everyone hasn’t called JJ out.

          • July 20, 2017 at 1:48 pm
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            There are just as many similarities between TFA and ANH as there are TPM and ANH, You can make an equally comparative list between those two movies. The difference is that TFA was a fun movie with likable characters, and TPM was an embarrassing mess.

          • July 20, 2017 at 6:13 pm
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            I would argue against that..but that’s because I like the prequels lol. Idk, to me at least the similarities between TPM and ANH are more poetic than trying to be nostalgic which is what TFA was trying to achieve..nostalgia. And it worked.

          • July 19, 2017 at 10:34 pm
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            Hero found on desert planet, hero longs to leave planet, droid with crucial data, droid starts adventure for hero leading them off planet, hero meets Han(Luke and Rey), ANOTHER DEATH STAR!, attack and destruction of Death Star seconds before facing their own destruction, TRENCH RUN(OMG!),Hero discovers the force, Mentor dies while hero watching, both receiving lightsaber (same one)…
            The list could go on and on if you were to watch and take notes.

            So, this deeper look you want me to take…what, a conflicted Ren? Luke and his disappearance? Rey and her lineage? Snoke?

            C’mon…he could have gotten original but remade the old movie, tried to add characters from the EU (POORLY DONE/Ren/Jacen), and then sprinkled some new pieces to the puzzle that honestly destroy the mythos of the originals.

            His (JJ) goal was to have old fans reminisce about ANH, while telling the same story for a new generation and trying to wink at the EU fans that disney wiped out.

            Financially a success! Story perspective, a complete failure in the context of the original movies. And as time continues moving forward more people are realizing this.

            Let’s just Hope that Rian can clean the slate and do something new, or somehow have 7 as a bad dream of Luke’s.

        • July 19, 2017 at 2:49 pm
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          Well, then you missed the point.

          • July 19, 2017 at 4:28 pm
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            no, I know what he was trying to do. but imo, he failed and it looked like a light reboot.

          • July 19, 2017 at 6:33 pm
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            He didn’t fail. The movie was a massive success and rebirthed Star Wars to both a whole new generation and reminded the older generation what it once was.

            Now, The Last Jedi will forge a new path. All part of the plan.

          • July 19, 2017 at 6:52 pm
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            as stated…IMO.

    • July 19, 2017 at 1:09 am
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      We can hope.

      • July 19, 2017 at 1:57 am
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        Re: “We can hope”
        Perhaps Leia hinted at this in R1 ending. 😉

    • July 19, 2017 at 3:38 am
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      Hot take there, Cw.

  • July 19, 2017 at 12:32 am
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    “…with the Republic’s fleet decimated,…”

  • July 19, 2017 at 1:17 am
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    CHAOS reigns the galaxy as the NEW REPUBLIC, decimated by the hands of the FIRST ORDER, are left scrambling to regain their strength. With orders by GENERAL LEIA herself, the RESISTANCE are left to scavenge the remote planet CRAIT for items useful to their survival. Meanwhile REY, now on Ach-To, finally confronts LUKE SKYWALKER, the last Jedi, in hopes he can return and restore the BALANCE the galaxy desperately needs…

    • July 19, 2017 at 11:08 pm
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      Not bad….fuzzball.

      • July 20, 2017 at 12:07 am
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        Wookiee noise intensifies**

  • July 19, 2017 at 1:19 am
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    Well, if the story follows just after TFA, it’s still ambiguous. The Republic, The First Order,.. Who knows.

  • July 19, 2017 at 1:57 am
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    Pretty sure that “decimated” is gonna be in reference to the New Republic, considering the events of TFA. I mean, the First Order essentially destroyed the entire government and its fleet.

  • July 19, 2017 at 3:17 am
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    It could explain the lack of banthas in this new trilogy.
    “The bantha population has been decimated by D.J., the swingingest DJ around.”

    • July 19, 2017 at 7:47 am
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      “The bantha population was decimated by a virus that festered in a wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

  • July 19, 2017 at 3:38 am
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    Really hoping to find that Luke decimated Mara Jade years ago…giving us Rey!

  • July 19, 2017 at 7:53 am
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    You could probably legitimately say that the First Order’s forces were “decimated” with the destruction of Starkiller Base. Technically, decimate means to kill one out of every ten (though it is typically used today to mean much more far reaching destruction). SB seems to have been a really big part of the FO’s power. Destroying SB could have literally “decimated” the FO.

    • July 19, 2017 at 12:24 pm
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      Are you sure ‘decimate’ means to kill one out of ten? It makes more sense that it means to leave one out of ten (a decimal) alive, that’s why the whole has been decimated (to 10%). =)

      • July 19, 2017 at 4:44 pm
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        Yes, it means to kill one out of ten. Look up the definition on merriam-webster.com. The first definition is “to select by lot and kill every tenth man of”. The term goes back to a Roman military practice whereby regiments that committed mutiny or desertion were punished by having one out of every ten men selected at random to be killed by the other nine men.

        As I said, though, common usage of the term today implies much more destruction than 10%.

        • July 19, 2017 at 10:10 pm
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          Wow, every day you learn something new! Thank you =)

  • July 19, 2017 at 4:37 pm
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    Horrified by what the Han Solo movie had become, how it had been infused with teenage hashtag humor and cheesy pop music, Lucasfilm and Supreme Producer Kathleen Kennedy decimated the footage and vision of two directors who had no place directing a Star Wars movie…now Luke goes to destroy the last seven Knights of Ren singlehandedly…with his blue lightsaber in his robot hand, and the green in the other…

  • July 19, 2017 at 4:41 pm
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    After Supreme Leader Snoke Decimated “The Bowl” the First Order scramble to fight off the Odor and find a way to Ban Snoke from all bathrooms on Kylo Ren’s Star Destroyer “The Finalizer”…….

  • July 19, 2017 at 6:01 pm
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    I like that he’s looking to George’s wisdom for guidance.
    The more they do that, the better.

    • July 20, 2017 at 2:05 am
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      Did you not watch the prequels?

  • July 19, 2017 at 8:41 pm
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    OMG he said decimated.

  • July 19, 2017 at 11:04 pm
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    Decimated is better than defecated…..since he was referring to poop during this interview…..lol.

  • July 19, 2017 at 11:16 pm
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    After a lengthy walk up the jedi steps…..Rey’s breathing has been left decimated, while struggling to hold up a 12 oz movie prop.

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