Star Wars actor defends The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker

'Debating movies is a healthy and natural part of filmmaking, but I loved working on both of these films,' said Joonas Suotamo in response to fans tweeting about which is the better film

Star Wars actor Joonas Suotamo has come out in defence of The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

The actor, who played Chewbacca throughout the Star Wars trilogy, tweeted on Sunday to speak about his experience on set filming both movies.

Suotamo's tweet was in response to a Twitter debate that began between fans on which is the better film, which led to both The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker trending on Twitter.

The Finnish actor wrote: “I woke up to see that #TheLastJedi and #TheRiseOfSkywalker are both trending. Debating movies is a healthy and natural part of filmmaking, but I loved working on both of these films and collaborating with everyone involved.”

He added, “I might be biased though. Rawrrgh!” The tweet was accompanied by two images of himself suited up as Chewbacca with directors Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, 2017) and JJ Abrams (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, 2019).

Suotamo took over the role of Chewbacca from Peter Mayhew, first as a body double in 2015 with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Before his acting career, the 6ft 11in actor used to be a professional basketball player in Finland’s basketball leagues.