Earlier this week, The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood sat down with Variety to discuss the television adaptation of her novel, the impact of Donald Trump, and, somehow, the connection between the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the beloved sci-fi franchise Star Wars. The connection? As Atwood put it in the interview, “They got the idea from Star Wars.†By way of explanation, she continued, “Remember the first one? Two guys fly a plane in the middle of something and blow that up? The only difference is, in Star Wars, they get away.â€
Some fans, both of Atwood and definitely of Star Wars, found her comments confusing, which is ostensibly why the author attempted to clarify them while attending Variety’s Power of Women event in New York. “So, flying a vehicle into a target to blow it up, okay? Star Wars is fiction so he gets out, but Japanese World War II kamikaze pilots did the same thing, so it’s not a new thing and it’s not an original thought with me,†Atwood said on Friday from the red carpet. “I just thought people already knew that, but I guess some people are so young that they forgot about that.†So, per Margaret Atwood, Star Wars somewhat mirrors actual historical events in its plot, a plot which, again to Margaret Atwood, maybe inspired 9/11? Well, there you have it.