A Famous Author Has a Crazy Theory That ‘Star Wars’ Inspired 9/11

“Two guys fly a plane in the middle of something and blow that up? The only difference is, in Star Wars, they get away.”

Margaret Atwood is the undeniably brilliant author of bestsellers such as The Handmaid’s Tale—the book upon which the popular Hulu series is based—and Alias Grace. She also doesn’t seem too crazy.

Well, she didn’t seem too crazy, until an interview with Variety in which she made a connection no one else might make between 9/11 and Star Wars. 

Atwood’s interviewer asked about her feelings regarding the rising #metoo women’s movement. Her rather rambling answer segued into talking about an opera version of Handmaid’s Tale made in 2000. 

The opera “started with a film reel going across the top of the stage,” she told Variety,  “and showing various things blowing up. And one of the things that blew up was the Twin Towers. But it hadn’t blown up yet. They did the opera again, and they had to take it out, because it was no longer in the future. Does that give you a creepy feeling?”

The interviewer admitted it did. Then Atwood said, “They didn’t get that idea from my opera, don’t worry. They got the idea from Star Wars.”

The interviewer seemed to have the same reaction anyone would. Atwood pressed on:

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. Right after 9/11, they hired a bunch of Hollywood screenwriters to tell them how the story might go next. Sci-fi writers are very good at this stuff, anticipating future events. They don’t all come true, but there are interesting “what if” scenarios.

The next question was, “Do you ever get writer’s block?” That was a pretty solid indicator Atwood had elicited something of a WTF reaction.

She sure did from us. 

We’re pretty sure these are the kinds of connections only a novelist might make. Maybe she’ll want to keep them out of interviews from now on.

h/t Variety