Are we about to see the return of Midi-chlorians inStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker? J.J. Abrams recently revealed that he and George Lucas met to prepare forThe Rise of Skywalkerand that Lucas is still talking about Midi-chlorians. Lucas introduced the intelligent microscopic lifeforms that can be used to measure Force power in 1999’sThe Phantom Menace, which is arguably the most-hated installment in the entire franchise. Lucas has talked a lot about Midi-chlorians over the years and even wanted his version of the sequel trilogy to include them in a major capacity.
George Lucascreated theStar Warsuniverse and there isn’t anybody who knows more about the subject than him. So, it seems only natural thatJ.J. Abramswould sit down and talk with Lucas to prepare for the final installment in the Skywalker Saga. While the director admits he spoke with Lucas, he doesn’t go into specifics, except for one topic. He explains.
“He had a lot of things to say about the nature of the Force, the themes that he was dealing with when he was writing the movies. Yes, there were some conversations aboutMidi-chlorians- he loves his Midi-chlorians. But it was a very helpful thing. Sitting with him is a treat, just to hear him talk, because it’s f***ing George Lucas talking aboutStar Wars. I always feel it’s a gift to hear him talk about that stuff. Because the effect that he had on me at 10 years old is utterly profound.”
So, there was some talk of Midi-chlorians. Does that mean we’re going to hear about them inThe Rise of Skywalker? Probably not. Up to this point, we have yet to hear about them in the sequel trilogy, which would mean introducing them now could be somewhat out of place. Plus, it seems that the sequel trilogy has done a pretty good job of not taking a whole lot of influence from the prequels, which seems to have been a wise decision.
The only time Midi-chlorians have been brought up on the big screen was inThe Phantom Menace. George Lucas says, “Everybody hated it inPhantom Menace(when) we started talking about Midi-chlorians.” His sequel trilogy would have put them andthe Whillsas the focal point in trying to explain the Force and how it works. However, when Disney bought Lucasfilm, they threw his ideas in the garbage, which Lucas did not appreciate.
Midi-chlorians could show up inThe Rise of Skywalker, but that seems pretty doubtful at this time, no matter how hard George Lucas is pushing for it. TheStar Warscreator knows fans probably would not have been into his idea for the last trilogy, but he just wanted to get his story out and finished to bring everything back full circle.The Rise of Skywalkerhits theaters on December 20th, so we’ll have to wait until then to see if the Midi-chlorians are involved. The interview with J.J. Abrams was originally conducted byTotal Film.
