Last week saw the news that Colin Trevorrow, basically no one’s favorite choice to direct the final entry in the new Star Wars trilogy was stepping down due to creative differences with Lucasfilms and Disney. Vulture then produced a whole piece about it from their inside sources, basically detailing how difficult he was to work with, and the possibility that the studio heads may have very well gotten some cold feet about their initial choice due to the poor reception of his big flop The Book of Henry – or at least may have seen it as a final straw in an already frayed relationship.

Who’s to say, really? Regardless, Trevorrow is gone. And fans spent all of last week throwing out ideas as to who might replace him. My initial thought, and the rumors that initial evening seemed to dictate, that Kennedy and company would hang onto Rian Johnson after how smoothly things went with The Last Jedi‘s production. Other ideas from other corners of the internet: Ava DuVernay, Brad Bird, a veteran hand similar to Ron Howard. But, that night, while we were headed to our screening of IT, my co-editor, Hannah, was certain LucasFilm was going to return to the man who got the franchise kickstarted again in JJ Abrams. It was too easy, and he had nothing on his plate that we could tell.

And by god, she was right, as it’s been announced today that Abrams is indeed returning for Episode IX. Abrams will co-write the film with Chris Terrio (co-writer of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League), which is a surprising development in of itself and probably worthy of some discussion.

Kennedy was quoted in the official statement: “With The Force Awakens, J.J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy”.

And to be frank, I have to agree regarding The Force Awakens. Star Wars is not exactly a franchise I’m big on, but I do love the original film as a piece of perfectly crafted blockbuster entertainment (and all of its influences it synthesizes) – and The Force Awakens hit a very similar vein for me. Maybe its because its just a souped-up version of the first film and I wanted to wallow in that story structure again, but it clicked for me when I needed it (unlike last year’s Rogue One).

So I look forward to seeing how this closes out! Episode IX opens in May of 2019 December 20, 2019, one week after Wonder Woman 2 is set to debut. Expect to see someone blink.

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9 COMMENTS

  2. Yeah, this will suck. I sat through Force Awakens only once and it was enough. Star Wars is dead. I got halfway through Batman V Superman and tapped out so his co-writer scares me.

    At least I have Harmy’s Despecialized Trilogy to watch to relive the greatness that was…

  3. Man, what a buncha gloomy guses.

    J.J., Abrams is a superb director of blockbuster action/adventure movies. Chris Terrio is a good writer. “The Force Awakens” was a great Star Wars movie and exactly what the franchise needed. Abrams will knock it out of the park again.

    I’m excited. I realize that doesn’t secure me a spot at the Cool Kids Table, but I’m okay with that.

  4. So much for Abram’s claim that he was done with sequels and reboots of franchises, and was going to direct original movies.

  5. I really like Abrams, but Force Awakens was the most cynical treading the water nostalgia fest I’ve ever seen. There were some really exciting parts where it looked like they were going to try some new things and then it turned into a scene-for-scene reshoot of the first Star Wars movie.

    But Abrams is a good director and can stage some very exciting scenes. I’ll probably see it, so I’m as much a hypocrite as anyone.

  6. “I really like Abrams, but Force Awakens was the most cynical treading the water nostalgia fest I’ve ever seen. There were some really exciting parts where it looked like they were going to try some new things and then it turned into a scene-for-scene reshoot of the first Star Wars movie.”

    Agree. I’ve never been a Trekkie but I really liked Abrams’ Star Trek films (even the second film which many people seem to (inexplicably) dislike). So he’s capable of making quality genre entertainment. TFA was not that, though. Nothing but Gen X nostalgia navel gazing.

    I do like Chris Terrio. I thought Argo was very good, and I loved, loved, loved BvS (again, despite its reputation).

    So, maybe I’ll like this? Dunno. After TFA and Rogue One (which I despised), this life-long Star Wars fan has mostly given up on the franchise. Which is fine. Maybe it’s for a new audience now. If so, I hope they enjoy it as much as I liked the first six films.

  7. Love Abrams Trek 09.

    Abrams Wars – eh (though I can’t lay the blame entirely on him)- The screenplay wasn’t done yet, Michael Ardnt who proved he can write excellent stories and characters in Toy Story 3 needed another 18 months to complete the script!

    It’s too bad they can’t workshop these stories Pixar style until they work. If they just got Chris Terrio on board, it doesn’t seem like much time to perfect a screenplay, unless they’re working off an old one?

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