Rian Johnson found Poe Dameron’s storyline the "trickiest" to write in ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’.
The 44-year-old filmmaker helmed the eighth instalment of the hit sci-fi franchise and took over the directing seat from J.J. Abrams, who started the brand new trilogy with ‘The Force Awakens’, but Johnson admitted he had problems writing Oscar Isaac’s on-screen alter ego.
In a recent interview with Collider, Johnson said: "[Poe was the] hardest to write for, honestly, just in terms of figuring out what their story was going to be was Poe. Luke [Skywalker – played by Mark Hamill] was obviously the hardest overall, but besides Luke, Poe was the trickiest. Poe is a such a clear-cut, simple character in [Episode VII] because he’s Oscar Isaac and he’s the most charismatic man in the universe and he’s just rad.
"Honestly, I actually wrote, in the very first draft I wrote of it, Poe went with Finn [John Boyega] on the mission to Canto Bight, and the two of them were going to be together on the mission. And it didn’t work at all because those two get along so well and it’d be really boring."
‘Episode IX’ is set to be helmed once again by Abrams who looks to be finally concluding the Skywalker storyline.
‘The Last Jedi’ has been slapped with backlash since it hit the big screen last year because fans were expecting it to have a memorial service for the beloved character Han Solo (played by Harrison Ford) after he died in ‘The Force Awakens’.
But Johnson has defended his decision not to have a special scene for the beloved space smuggler character because he thought it would mess up the pace of the film.
He said: "[There was no debate of showing Han Solo’s funeral], just because pacing-wise it didn’t have a place. It’s tough in ‘Star Wars’ because I always think about the mourning that Luke gives to Ben’s death, which is all of four-and-a-half seconds before, ‘Come on kid we’re not out of this yet,’ and then boom, you’re into, ‘Yay, woo-hoo! Don’t get cocky!’
"There’s the moment for it, but it’s not long. We don’t have time for our sorrows, commanders. That’s kind of the thing of ‘Star Wars’; you don’t really linger on grief because you’re moving forward."
Rian Johnson admits woes with Poe storyline
