Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson has wrapped post-production on the highly-anticipated sequel, completing his theatrical cut roughly three months before it’s scheduled to reach theaters. Over the past year, Lucasfilm has made plenty of unwanted headlines due to frequent behind-the-scenes drama , but the studio’s partnership with Johnson has gone as smoothly as anyone could have hoped. Channeling his inner fan and reveling in large amounts of creative freedom , the Looper helmsman had the time of his life in the galaxy far, far away and has efficiently made his way through the entire process.


The prospect of seeing Episode VIII on the big screen is becoming more tangible now that its impending release is right around the corner. With the countdown entering the home stretch, Lucasfilm is about to crank their marketing efforts up to 11 to drum up the already large amounts of hype. Given a second trailer is presumably a couple weeks away , Johnson could theoretically be feeling the pressure to lock final picture, but he isn’t going to be up against the gun trying to get The Last Jedi finished. In fact, he now has a little bit of time to sit back and relax.


Taking to his Instagram account , Johnson announced post-production on Star Wars 8 has wrapped, sharing a picture of his team as he thanked them for their hard work. You can take a look at his post in the space below:


Dating back to A New Hope, Star Wars is a film franchise typically marred by troubled productions that proved to be a nightmare for the filmmakers to deal with, so it has to be a nice feeling for all involved The Last Jedi was an exception to the rule. Johnson proved to be a very strong fit in the Lucasfilm system, which is exactly what the studio needed following what transpired on Han Solo and Episode IX . For comparison’s sake, J.J. Abrams didn’t finish The Force Awakens until November 2015, meaning Johnson has well outpaced his fellow sequel trilogy helmsman. It’s no wonder fans were so keen on seeing him take over for Colin Trevorrow on Star Wars 9 before Abrams stepped in .


Johnson appears to be a believer in the old adage of getting your work done early. This was undoubtedly a big job, and now he can cross it off his “to-do” list well before the extensive press tour starts up. Should any last-minute changes come to mind, Johnson has plenty of time to implement them, but he seems to be happy with the way things turned out. Hopefully fans like what they see come December, and Episode VIII becomes another thrilling chapter in the Skywalker saga.