Not Spooked: Rian Johnson Fires Back Over Star Wars Exit Claims

The director behind one of the franchise’s most divisive chapters has a blunt, four-word rebuttal for the idea that online trolls scared him away.

In the galaxy of Star Wars drama, a new chapter has just been declassified. Outgoing Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, in a farewell interview, suggested that director Rian Johnson’s path away from a planned Star Wars trilogy was paved by more than just a busy schedule. According to Kennedy, the *Knives Out* maestro was subtly chased off by the relentless storm of online hate following 2017’s The Last Jedi.

“I do believe he got spooked by the online negativity,” Kennedy stated, positioning the toxic fandom as a bogeyman that even brilliant filmmakers fear.

Johnson’s response? Swift, surgical, and soaked in internet sarcasm. Quote-tweeting a story about the comments on X, the director offered a masterclass in concise rebuttal: “lol zero spooked, sorry.”

Let’s be clear: this isn’t Johnson’s first time addressing the radioactive reception to his Star Wars film. He’s been navigating that asteroid field for years. But this latest exchange cuts to the heart of a modern Hollywood narrative—the idea that creative decisions are now hostage to Twitter mobs and YouTube rant cycles.

Kennedy’s remarks painted a picture of a filmmaker retreating to safer ground. “Once he made the Netflix deal and went off to start doing the Knives Out films, that has occupied a huge amount of his time,” she said, before adding the psychological kicker about him being “spooked.” She praised him as a “brilliant filmmaker” who made “one of the best Star Wars movies,” yet framed his pivot as a tactical retreat from the franchise’s often brutal fan engagement.

Johnson’s tweet, however, reframes the entire conversation. It’s not a retreat; it’s a choice. The subtext is loud and clear: he moved on because he had other, wildly successful projects to build (a billion-dollar *Knives Out* universe, anyone?), not because a vocal minority shouting into the void held any real power over his creative compass.

The truth likely lives in the middle. No sane person enjoys being the internet’s main character for relentless vitriol, and Johnson has openly discussed the personal difficulty of that experience. But to suggest he was *scared off*? That diminishes the agency of a filmmaker currently at the peak of his commercial and critical powers. He didn’t flee to Netflix; he built an empire there.

This micro-drama underscores the enduring legacy of The Last Jedi—a film that remains a cultural flashpoint nearly a decade later. It seems the debate is no longer just about Luke Skywalker’s character arc or hyperspace ramming; it’s about who gets to write the history of why filmmakers come and go from this beloved, burdensome franchise. And Rian Johnson just submitted his own very short, very definitive edit.