Just one week after Colin Treverrow made his exit from Star Wars: Episode IX, we’ve got confirmation from StarWars.com that The Force Awakens director JJ Abrams is stepping up to take over. Rian Johnson, director or Episode X, was apparently offered the gig, but declined. Abrams returns with his experience in the Star Wars universe, and our gut tells us he’s going to take the criticisms of The Force Awakens in stride and deliver a great close to this trilogy.
Nobody can argue that The Force Awakens was at least shot and directed well, many people’s qualms with the film were due to it’s lack of originality, and overuse of parallels to Star Wars: A New Hope. While Abrams is writing the script, he’ll have help from Chris Terrio, who had success with Argo, but didn’t turn any heads with his writing on Batman v Superman. Here at GlitchUp, we’re ok with this news, and are relieved to have Abrams over Treverrow.
Bring on the lens flare.
Update: Via Star Wars official Twitter account, we now also have a release date of December 20, 2019.
Star Wars: Episode IX is scheduled for release on December 20, 2019. pic.twitter.com/rDBqmuHX89
— Star Wars (@starwars) September 12, 2017
Below is the press release from Starwars.com:
J.J. Abrams, who launched a new era of Star Wars with The Force Awakens in 2015, is returning to complete the sequel trilogy as writer and director of Star Wars: Episode IX. Abrams will co-write the film with Chris Terrio. Star Wars: Episode IX will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan, Abrams, Bad Robot, and Lucasfilm.
“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,” said Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy.