Star Wars director reveals why the Knights of Ren weren’t in The Last Jedi

The whole Snoke plot is also discussed.

While fans have already turned their attention towards Ron Howard's Solo: A Star Wars Story, there are still some questions and plot details that need clarification from The Last Jedi. In fact, we even outlined 11 things that left us thinking about Rian Johnson's film and what would you know, the good people at Empire have asked the director about one of them. We can all agree that one of the coolest things from The Force Awakens was Rey's vision of the Knights of Ren. After featuring in that incredibly cool scene in Episode VII, they weren't even mentioned in The Last Jedi. Maybe Kylo Ren got bored of them, took away his football and stormed off in a hissy fit? There's also a very cool school of thought that believes Rey's vision in TFA was actually a prophecy of something that's yet to come. Either way, Star Wars fans really wanted to see more of Kylo's angry friends and Johnson has explained their absence in The Last Jedi.

Speaking on Empire's film podcast, the Looper director said that he found the Knights of Ren "interesting" but that he simply could not fit them in the movie.

"We have a very full movie already. There literally was just not room for another element. I guess I could've used them in place of the Praetorian guards but then it would feel like wasting them because all those guards had to die. And if Kylo had some kind of connection to them it would've added a complication that wouldn't have helped the scene. So the truth is, I just didn't see a place for them in the movie."

Given the fact that The Last Jedi was the longest ever Star Wars film, we understand that certain scenes had to be cut - Tom Hardy's cameo being one - but we would love to see the Knights of Ren making an appearance in Episode IX. If not, perhaps they'll be featured in the new Star Wars trilogy that Johnson's overseeing? Another interesting plot detail from The Last Jedi revolved around Kylo Ren's treatment of Supreme Leader Snoke. Spoiler alert if you haven't seen the film yet. As you may know, Kylo sliced his master in half with a lightsaber and fans were left a bit disappointed by Ben Solo's decision. Granted, the action in that scene was impressive but after so much buildup and speculation, we all wanted to learn a little bit more about Snoke's backstory.

"I like Snoke as a character – as Andy Serkis plays him, he's delicious. He's evil and he's fun. But Kylo to me is where the interesting stuff is.And the notion of clearing the deck of the Vader-Emperor dynamic, so that all bets are off in the final movie in terms of how the villainy is going to play out. That to me seems much more interesting," said Johnson.

Well, maybe J.J. Abrams will give us some answers with Episode IX.