Star Wars’ Adam Driver clarifies comparison of Episode VIII to Empire Strikes Back

Last month, Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) told Collider that Star Wars: Episode VIII felt like The Empire Strikes Back, tonally speaking. Now, in a new interview with Vanity Fair, Driver said that the way people interpreted the comparison wasn’t entirely accurate.

“What I said was the tone of it was different, I didn’t say that it was gonna be in the vein of [it]—I was using it as an example, so poor example,” Driver told the magazine. “Next time I should say—I’m trying to think of another sequel to a movie that’s good. When I read the script, it was not what I expected, in the best of ways.”

In comparison, pasted below is the original quote that Johnson gave to Collider about the film in which he talks about the tone and how it compares to The Empire Strikes Back.

“It’s similar to how The Empire Strikes Back has a different tone. For that people always go ‘oooh, it’s dark’ but I don’t know that it necessarily is. It’s just different in tone in a way that I think is great and necessary but also very clear.”

Driver has spoken before about director Rian Johnson’s script for the eighth movie, praising it for its ambiguity and nuanced tone, adding that Johnson’s version of Kylo Ren would answer some of the biggest questions fans had from The Force Awakens. Driver hasn’t provided any specifics on his character or the film at large, but has said that it’s darker than The Force Awakens and the stakes are higher.

Star Wars: Episode VIII hits theaters Dec. 15, 2017.