Star Wars fans love to argue more than Watto loves money. Who shot first: Han or Greedo? What’s the correct order to watch the episodic films? Is Jar Jar Binks or Supreme Leader Snoke the worse character? (Answers: Han; from Episode I to Episode VIII, obviously; and yes.) The big debate coming out of The Last Jedi is whether the Holdo Maneuver — in which Vice Admiral Holdo sacrifices herself by jumping into hyperspace and ripping open the First Order’s flagship — is a “threat to Star Wars lore.” It’s an incredible moment of filmmaking (the silence is deafening) and something we’ve never seen before in a Star Wars movie, which is exactly why some so-called “fans” are upset.
While speaking on SlashFilm‘s podcast, director Rian Johnson addressed the issue. “First of all, has this been done before, period?” he asked. “I’ve got to reserve the right for [Lucasfilm Story Group member] Pablo [Hidalgo] to build it back into canon if he’s like, ‘Yeah, this is a thing and they outlawed it.’ I think there’s various ways you can go with it. But it’s not like it was the plan to do this.”
Johnson continued, “It’s a spur of the moment thing. It’s this idea that she gets and she sits down and f*cking does, and it obviously takes everybody completely by surprise. It takes Hux by surprise. The fact that Hux doesn’t see it coming means it’s probably not a standard military maneuver. I think it was something that Holdo [laughs] pulled out of her butt in the moment.”
That’s where all the best ideas come from. Just ask Ponda Baba’s face. (The “spur of the moment” thing is also what makes the scene so exciting. You can sense the desperation from the Resistance.) Anyway, I’m sure this rationalization will satisfy Star Wars fans, who will never argue about anything ever again.
(Via SlashFilm)