Lucasfilm and Disney have confirmed that J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode IX, replacing the recently departed Colin Trevorrow.
Abrams helped to bring Star Wars back to the big screen in 2015 as he served as director and co-writer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the film revamped the Star Wars franchise, earning rave reviews and smashing box office records in the process. The news was confirmed along with an accompanying statement from Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy who said that “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”.
Previous director Colin Trevorrow left the project last week with creative differences cited as the reason for his dismissal, but reports later surfaced that the director was a difficult personality to deal with. Jack Thorne was recently confirmed as penning a rewrite of Episode IX‘s script and today’s announcement has confirmed that Abrams will co-write the film along with Chris Terrio.
Star Wars: Episode IX will be released in UK cinemas on June 21st 2019, watch the trailer for the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi, set for a UK cinema release of December 14th 2017, below.
