Johnson said there was "never any outline or treatment or anything" for the remainder of the films, though he did note that the ideas he had were "all very conceptual" without further elaboration. Lucasfilm first announced the planned trilogy in November 2017, a month before The Last Jedi 's theatrical release.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Johnson addressed the notion that he and J.J. Abrams—who made the first and third films in the sequel trilogy, The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker —didn’t communicate enough about their 2015 and 2017 Star Wars films, leading to a disjointed feeling between the two.

The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson discusses whether or not the Star Wars trilogy he was going to make for Lucasfilm is still happening.