Filmmaker Kevin Smith Falls In Love With ‘Star Wars Episode IX’

Although Kevin Smith has never been directly involved with the making of a Star Wars movie, he’s known for being a huge fan of the franchise. His first film Clerks features an exchange between the two main characters about which movie was better, Return of the Jedi or The Empire Strikes Back. Virtually every Kevin Smith movie following Clerks contained references to Star Wars and he has become synonymous with Star Wars fandom.

While Smith’s movies take Star Wars debate seriously, fans online and across the country have been debating about whether or not the final entry to the current Star Wars trilogy will follow a similar path to The Last Jedi or if it will be a return to form for the franchise.

According to a report from SlashFilm, writer and director Kevin Smith seems to think Star Wars fans have nothing to worry about. Smith has gone on record touting himself a big fan of J.J. Abrams’ current direction with the upcoming movie.

“Number one, J.J.’s doing the Lord’s work, man. This movie looks fantastic. It’s a year away, but man it looks fantastic. I wept on set because I saw somebody give a career-best performance. Somebody I’ve seen in these movies before. I rolled a tear, it was so darn powerful. Biggest set I’ve ever seen in my life. The dude’s not directing a movie, it’s like he’s directing a small country. The thing is so massive.”

Also directed by J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the first film in Disney’s current trilogy. Released in 2015 it scored massive numbers at the box office and was a critical darling, still holding a 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Fans also loved the movie, as it sits with an 87 percent audience score.

In 2017, it was followed by Star Wars: The Last Jedi which still did well at the box office, though not quite achieving the commercial success of its predecessor. It currently holds a 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, which means it scored extremely well with movie critics, but fans weren’t quite as enthused. The audience score for The Last Jedi sits at a mere 45 percent. Many blamed the new writer and director, Rian Johnson, who took Star Wars in an unexpected direction.

For the upcoming third entry to the ongoing trilogy and ninth Star Wars episode overall, Disney tapped J.J. Abrams to come back to the helm of the upcoming Star Wars Episode IX, which currently does not have an official title.