Director Colin Trevorrow had The Last Jedi‘s Rian Johnson Film Something for Episode IX

You might recall how during the filming of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, director Rian Johnson, prepping the next film in the new trilogy, asked director J.J. Abrams if he might accommodate a small tweak to his film. Abrams obliged, and once Johnson's The Last Jedi comes out, perhaps we'll find out exactly what that tweak was. A similar situation has happened during Johnson's production; Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow asked him for a favor while he was shooting The Last Jedi.

Speaking to MTV's Happy Sad Confused podcast, Episode IX's co-writer and director said the following:

"There was one little thing. It wasn’t an adjustment, it was just 'Could you shoot this one extra thing while you’re in this place on this day?' And he did, which was great. It’s part of the collaborative process that exists – everyone is in communication. There’s such a genuine want to get this right from everybody, and I think that one of the misconceptions is that there’s some kind of great corporate overlord that is dictating this story to everybody, and that’s what it’s going to be because that’s going to sell the most toys. The reality of it is that it’s a small group of people, but it’s actually, y’know, kind of large when you think about it – and none of them are corporate, all of them are creatives and all of them are genuinely, very sincerely, wanting to do the work of their lives in order to realize this."

This collaborative spirit is part and parcel with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy’s handling of the new trilogy, in which she and Disney have given considerable creative freedom to their directors, who in turn have worked closely with one another to ensure the new trilogy is as coherent and seamless as possible. Considering Trevorrow’s tasked with the very difficult responsibility of officially ending the Skywalker saga with his film, it’s not surprising that Rian Johnson was happy to help him get the shot he needed.

The Last Jedi premieres on December 15, while Star Wars: Episode IX will be released May 24, 2019.