Harrison Ford in a still from The Force Awakens (courtesy YouTube)
Highlights
- J J Abrams will also co-write the movie with Chris Terrio
- "I am so excited that he is coming back," said the studio president
- J J Abrams had directed The Force Awakens
Sci-fi filmmaker J J Abrams is to direct
Star Wars: Episode IX, Lucasfilm announced on Tuesday, following the departure of Colin Trevorrow over creative differences. Abrams - a familiar face in the
Star Wars universe, who directed
The Force Awakens (2015), will co-write the film with Chris Terrio, who won an Oscar for the screenplay for
Argo, (2012), the Disney-owned studio said. "With
The Force Awakens, Abrams delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy," Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement.
Abrams has considerable pedigree in sci-fi, having successfully rebooted the
Star Trek franchise, directing two of the new films, as well as producing the
Cloverfield trilogy and the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi.
The
Force Awakens is the third-highest grossing movie of all time, taking $2.1 billion, and spin-off movie
Rogue One was beaten only by
Captain America: Civil War in 2016.
But it hasn't been plain sailing for Lucasfilm, which has parted company with several of its directors recently, starting with Josh Trank, who dropped out of developing a
Star Wars spinoff in 2015, citing the enormous pressures of being involved with the franchise.
Rogue One itself made headlines in 2016 when Tony Gilroy (
The Bourne Legacy) was brought in to helm extensive reshoots just a few months ahead of the release of the Gareth Edwards-directed movie.
Lucasfilm announced a week ago that Trevorrow had left as director of
Episode IX, attributing his exit to differing visions between the filmmaker and studio executives.
The Hollywood Reporter, citing unnamed sources, said the main point of contention was ongoing "script issues," with Trevorrow being forced into several rewrites.
The weekly trade paper reported that the relationship between Trevorrow and Kennedy had become "unmanageable," although it added that she had tried to avoid losing another director.
In June, Lucasfilm sacked directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller (
21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie), who were just weeks away from wrapping principal photography on the hotly-anticipated Han Solo spinoff.
The pair were replaced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard after clashing with Kennedy and writer Lawrence Kasdan, according to reports.
Trevorrow's departure was seen as a significant upheaval as he is considered hot property after scoring big with Universal's creature feature
Jurassic World (2015), the fourth-highest grossing movie of all time.
The untitled Han Solo movie is due out on May 25 next year, while filming has yet to start on
Star Wars: Episode IX, slated for release 12 months later.
The Last Jedi, the next film in the
Star Wars franchise, directed by Rian Johnson, opens on December 15.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)