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J.J. Abrams met with George Lucas while prepping Rise of Skywalker, and Midi-chlorians came up
It's not easy to wrap up a 42-year saga, but writer/director J.J. Abrams is going to try his hardest with The Rise of Skywalker, which opens in theaters everywhere late next month. While he was prepping for the blockbuster film, Abrams consulted with the father of the entire Star Wars franchise, George Lucas.
“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,” Abrams said during a chat with Total Film. “Yes, there were some conversations about Midi-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 about Star 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."
While Midi-chlorians have always been somewhat of a sore subject with hardcore Star Wars fans since 1999, there is a possibility that Abrams could revisit the concept in his trilogy capper.
Why? Well, in Revenge of the Sith, Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) hinted that a powerful individual could manipulate the Midi-chlorians to create life and in a later comic from Marvel, it was basically confirmed that he had done just that to impregnate Shmi Skywalker with Anakin. With the Emperor returning in IX, we may be getting a reprisal of prequel topics, especially when it comes to Rey's mysterious past.
That being said, Abrams curtly shot down any exploration of Midi-chlorians prior to The Force Awakens opening in 2015.
First introduced in The Phantom Menace, Midi-chlorians are rare microscopic lifeforms in the blood that allow a person to commune with and harness the powers of the Force. The count in Anakin's bloodstream was extremely high, prompting the Jedi Council — which saw the boy as the possible "Chosen One" of a foretold prophecy — to take him on as Padawan.
Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on Friday, Dec. 20.
