‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ Will Be Written And Directed By JJ Abrams, Replacing Colin Trevorrow
After months of speculation, it was officially announced today that JJ Abrams — the Star Trek reboot movie director who also directed The Force Awakens — will be writing and directing, Star Wars Episode IX, replacing the recently-departed Colin Trevorrow, who first came to prominence for his work on the Jurassic Park reboot film Jurassic World.
According to the film’s official site, Star Wars Episode IX will mark the second time that JJ Abrams is sitting in the director’s chair, and he will be co-writing the script with Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice writer Chris Terrio.
Abrams’ Bad Robot production company will be one of the producers of the film that also include Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and Michelle Rejwan.
Star Wars Episode IX will be the ninth, and final, chapter in the so-called Skywalker Saga. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy released a statement saying that she couldn’t be happier that Abrams was at the helm one last time.
“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.”
The film is still in the development stages and is set to be released sometime in 2019.
J.J. Abrams to write and direct Star Wars Episode IX. https://t.co/aVF8UWaK0e pic.twitter.com/YrjgZZNxUx
— Star Wars (@starwars) September 12, 2017
Originally, according to Forbes, Colin Trevorrow was hired for Star Wars Episode IX after Jurassic World was such a runaway hit. However, last week, Trevorrow announced that he would no longer be working on the film but didn’t give reasons why he departed the film.
More Star Wars Episode IX News from the Inquisitr
When that happened, Forbes speculated that either Abrams or Last Jedi director Rian Johnson would be back in the director’s chair. And while, according to the outlet, it would have been nice to see a woman or a minority in the director’s chair, the bigger goal is to get the film out in time for Memorial Day 2019 so that it doesn’t have to compete with other films like Frozen 2 and the Skywalker Saga can get the send-off that it deserves.
We sent @amy_geek into the world to #FindTheForce for #ForceFridayII. https://t.co/a3M4ZCi6ps pic.twitter.com/cbEotMoePI
— Star Wars (@starwars) September 9, 2017
No other details about Star Wars Episode IX have been released, so there’s no way to tell who will star in the film or what direction the script will go in.
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[Featured Image by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images]
