Abrams will direct ninth ‘Star Wars’
The disturbance in the Force that occurred when Colin Trevorrow was pushed out as the director of “Star Wars: Episode IX” has already been calmed.
Lucasfilm, the studio behind this lucrative and longrunning science-fiction franchise, said Tuesday that J.J. Abrams would return to be the director and a writer on the ninth installment in the central “Star Wars” saga, which is planned for release in 2019.
Abrams was the director and a writer of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the 2015 blockbuster that revived the “Star Wars” film franchise after a decade of dormancy and the dissatisfaction that some fans had with a trilogy of prequels written and directed by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas.
“The Force Awakens” sold more than $2 billion in tickets worldwide and was widely praised by critics.
Studio’s president Kathleen Kennedy has not hesitated to make sweeping creative changes on new “Star Wars” films. In June, Philip Lord and Christopher Miller were pushed out as the directors of a movie about the young Han Solo and replaced by Ron Howard. Kennedy said in a statement Tuesday, “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.”
Abrams will share writing duties on “Episode IX” with Chris Terrio, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of “Argo,” whose screenwriting credits also include the comic-book adaptations “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Justice League.”
The eighth “Star Wars” saga film, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” written and directed by Rian Johnson, will come out Dec. 15.