While J.J. Abrams was seemingly thinking about mirroring a Darth Vader/Emperor Palpatine dynamic for Kylo Ren and Supreme Leader Snoke, Johnson felt it was more dramatic to do something fresh and different with the characters instead of just echoing what audiences have already seen.

Rian Johnson has finally set the record straight on how much he and J.J. Abrams spoke in between "The Force Awakens" and "The Last Jedi"

Around the time that some fans were having a meltdown over Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson and Lucasfilm were planning to piss them off even further with a whole new trilogy helmed by Johnson.