Remember when things were going smoothly in that galaxy far, far away..? It does seem a long time ago… especially with the number of directorial hiccups involved.
Only a few months ago, Phil Lord and Chris Miller were jettisoned from the Han Solo movie after months of shooting ( to be replaced with Ron Howard) and after what had been described as ‘deep fundamental philosophical differences’ between the team and the studio. There’d already been controversy when Josh Trank left the second Star Wars stand-alone film after controversy over his performance directing the dead-on-arrival Fantastic Four.
It’s also well known that Tony Gilroy came on board Rogue One to help Gareth Edwards during later parts of production and to placate some concerns and offer guidance.
Last week, the following very short and to-the-point statement was released regarding Star Wars IX (the mainstay film that will follow on narratively from this coming December’s The Last Jedi). Another director, Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World), bites the Tatooine dust…
It reads:
Lucasfilm and Colin Trevorrow have mutually chosen to part ways on Star Wars: Episode IX. 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. We wish Colin the best and will be sharing more information about the film soon.
Early Tuesday morning, it was confirmed that J J Abrams will return to fill the director’s chair. He will co-write the film with Chris Terrio and to accommodate the needed production schedule, the film will be released over six months later – on 20th December, 2019 instead of 24th May, 2019 – though a December release didn’t hurt The Force Awakens.
“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 in a statement.
