Russia Tried To Influence Star Wars Last Jedi Plot

Star Wars The Last Jedi was a very successful movie that raked in over a billion dollars worldwide. It was not without controversy though, as part of the Star Wars fan base was furious at some of the story decisions made by director Rian Johnson. There is a shocking revelation in the Last Jedi bonus features where Johnson talks about Russian based Twitter accounts trying to persuade him not to kill General Hux while he was making the movie. This was the only plot piece that he mentioned in the clip, but he could have received more Russian Tweets trying to influence other plot decisions. Was this a co-ordinated attempt by Vladimir Putin to change the outcome of a Star Wars movie, or does Hux just have a lot of fans in Russia?

There is no evidence yet that Rian Johnson colluded with Russia to change the outcome of the movie, except for the fact that Hux is still alive. It's more likely that Johnson had never intended to kill the character, but the fact that he chose the outcome desired by the Russian social media campaign does raise a few eyebrows. If the order to send the Tweets did indeed come from Vladimir Putin himself, then he would have considered his campaign a success after watching the movie. He got what he wanted, while many American fans did not.

If Russia did meddle with the Star Wars Last Jedi plot, America needs to know. This is a beloved franchise in American popular culture, and nobody wants foreign bots trying to influence its outcome. Since Robert Mueller is already investigating Russian state meddling, perhaps he should also look into these Star Wars allegations. The Attorney General should recuse himself from this investigation, given his own history with Russian collusion.

We know that Russia was desperate to keep Hux alive. What else might they have wanted to see in this movie? Did they lobby for Luke to scorn the Jedi?  Did they want Rey to have boring parents? Did they want to suppress the Snoke backstory? Was Canto Bight nothing more than a Vladimir Putin idea? Did he want Rose to play such a prominent role? These are questions we cannot answer without a probe by the Justice Department.

All sarcasm aside, if those Russian Tweets really did come from Putin, it's probably because he sees Hux as a metaphor for American military leadership. That having him in the movie makes America look bad. Hux was representing a Nazi type of role in the Force Awakens, so the theory that Putin wanted the character alive to continue making America look bad (by linking them to Fascism) isn't completely ridiculous. The theory that Rian Johnson colluded with Putin to hurt Star Wars fans may be ridiculous, but the idea that Putin ordered his social media soldiers to influence the outcome of his biggest rival's most treasured movie franchise is at least a little bit believable.

We need answers.