Damon Lindelof has elaborated on the reason behind his departure from the "Star Wars" franchise. The co-creator of "Lost" was initially brought in to pen one of the films in the sci-fi series in 2022, but he was ultimately removed from the project the following year. During an appearance on the "House of R" podcast, Lindelof revealed that his vision for the film "simply didn't work."
He recounted, "I was let go from a Star Wars movie. They asked me, 'What do you think a Star Wars movie should be?' And I said, 'Here's what it should be.' And they said, 'Great, you're hired.' And then two years later, I was fired. So, I was wrong, at least through that lens."
Lindelof further explained, "What we were attempting to do, with my writing partner Justin Britt-Gibson and writer Rayna McClendon, was to have this conversation within the movie. Essentially, there's a Force of nostalgia and a Force of revision, and they are at odds with one another. We wanted to do the Protestant Reformation within Star Wars, but it didn't work."
He added, "Having your cake and eating it too isn't always possible. The conversation that the fandom is having without winking at the audience didn't feel like it was risky enough."
Lindelof also noted that writing the movie was "really hard" and that he struggled to find the right "tone." He said, "The writing was really challenging. It was slow-going. Finding the right tone and where it fit within the canon, its relationship to Episode IX was a daunting task."
He continued, "When Episode VII came out, we all knew who Rey and Finn and Poe were. We were preparing to bring back Luke and Leia and Han and Chewy. But we got the sense that when this new trilogy ended, we would be launching with these new characters as the center of Star Wars. The new question is whether Mando and Grogu are the center of Star Wars?"
