Rian Johnson shown between Star Wars The Last Jedi imagery and Wake Up Dead Man visuals highlighting a spiritual connection

Rian Johnson Says The Last Jedi and Wake Up Dead Man Are Spiritually Connected — And Suddenly Everything Clicks

gingetattoo interview, People, Star Wars Movies, tv series

Rian Johnson has never been shy about talking themes, subtext, or why The Last Jedi hit audiences the way it did. But his latest comment might be one of the most revealing things he’s ever said about the film—and it reframes The Last Jedi in a way that feels both heavier and more human.

According to Johnson, there’s a “spiritual connection” between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and his upcoming Knives Out sequel, Wake Up Dead Man. And no, this isn’t about plot, genre, or cinematic Easter eggs.

It’s about grief. Faith. And asking uncomfortable questions when the universe goes quiet.

Star Wars, But Make It Spiritual (On Purpose)

Johnson recently explained that when he wrote The Last Jedi, Star Wars wasn’t just a sci-fi sandbox—it was something closer to religion.

And honestly? That tracks.

Star Wars has always borrowed heavily from myth, belief systems, and spiritual ideas. The Force isn’t subtle about it. But Johnson leaned into that aspect harder than most directors, treating the galaxy far, far away less like a power fantasy and more like a place where belief itself is tested.

That’s why The Last Jedi spends so much time breaking things down instead of building them up. Heroes fail. Legends disappoint. Certainty evaporates.

It’s Star Wars asking: What happens when faith doesn’t give you easy answers anymore?

Grief Was Baked Into the Script

Here’s the part that adds real weight: Johnson revealed that his father passed away shortly before he wrote The Last Jedi. That loss directly influenced the story.

Suddenly, Luke Skywalker’s exile doesn’t feel like a “subversion.”
It feels like mourning.

Luke isn’t hiding because he’s weak. He’s hiding because he’s lost belief—in himself, in the Jedi, and in the idea that legacy automatically leads to hope. That kind of crisis doesn’t come from clever plotting. It comes from personal experience.

And once you see that, The Last Jedi stops being a movie about “deconstructing Star Wars” and starts being a movie about rebuilding meaning after loss.

Enter Wake Up Dead Man

So where does Wake Up Dead Man come in?

Johnson says the connection between the two films is spiritual rather than narrative. While Wake Up Dead Man lives firmly in the Knives Out murder-mystery world, it apparently explores similar questions—faith, doubt, mortality, and what people cling to when certainty disappears.

Even the title feels like a confession.

“Wake up, dead man” isn’t about resurrection in a literal sense. It sounds like a plea. Or a challenge. Or maybe frustration directed at a silent universe that refuses to explain itself.

If The Last Jedi asked whether old beliefs still matter, Wake Up Dead Man may be asking what happens when belief is all you have left.

This Also Explains the Reaction to The Last Jedi

Love it or hate it, The Last Jedi made people uncomfortable—and now it’s clearer why.

Movies rooted in grief don’t behave like crowd-pleasers. They ask questions instead of delivering catharsis on schedule. They resist nostalgia. They linger on failure longer than fans expect.

That’s not a flaw. It’s a feature.

Johnson wasn’t trying to break Star Wars. He was processing something deeply personal inside a mythological framework that millions of people already emotionally understood.

Which, ironically, is very Star Wars.

Two Very Different Films, One Shared Question

On the surface, The Last Jedi and Wake Up Dead Man couldn’t be more different. One has lightsabers and Force ghosts. The other has Benoit Blanc and suspects who definitely did it.

But underneath? They’re wrestling with the same thing:

What do you do when the stories you believed in stop making sense?

That’s not just a cinematic question. It’s a human one.

And whether you loved The Last Jedi, hated it, or are still arguing about it on the internet years later, this insight makes one thing clear: Rian Johnson wasn’t being clever for the sake of it.

He was being honest.

And sometimes, that’s the most controversial choice of all.

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