Lucasfilm cuts director for 2019 ‘Star Wars’ film

LOS ANGELES — Ejecting directors from its movie galaxy is starting to become a regular occurrence for Lucasfilm, which said Tuesday that Colin Trevorrow would no longer direct the ninth chapter in the Star Wars saga.

Trevorrow’s departure follows another Lucasfilm shake-up. In June, Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm’s president, fired Chris Miller and Phil Lord as directors of a coming Han Solo spinoff movie — even though filming had already started — and hired Ron Howard as their replacement.

As with Lord and Miller, best known for The Lego Movie and 22 Jump Street, the ouster of Trevorrow was draped in Hollywood’s usual public relations niceties.

“Lucasfilm and Colin Trevorrow have mutually chosen to part ways,” a statement posted on StarWars.com said.

“Colin has been a wonderful collaborator throughout the development process, but we have all come to the conclusion that our visions for the project differ.” The statement concluded, “We wish Colin the best and will be sharing more information about the film soon.”

Trevorrow declined to comment Tuesday. No replacement was named.

Kennedy and the Walt Disney Co., which owns Lucasfilm, have repeatedly shown that they will do whatever it takes — ego bruising, be darned — to steer the Star Wars franchise as they see best.