‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ Goes Back To The Future Again With J.J. Abrams

If you enjoyed Star Wars: Episode VII, get ready to watch it all over again.

Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that J.A. Abrams will return to the franchise to direct Episode IX following the departure of Colin Trevorrow.

Here’s what Kennedy said in a statement:

“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,”

“Everything we could have possibly hoped for” is code for “he took the best parts of Episodes 4-6 and completely cut out Episodes 1-3.” I’m not saying it was a bad move, but let’s be honest in what Abrams gave us. It wasn’t anything original or groundbreaking. It was Star Wars: The Greatest Hits.

Trevorrow left the project after he had issues with the script. He and Kennedy constantly clashed until one had to go and a director is easier to replace than the president of the company.

This is the third time a director has been replaced in the Star Wars universe since the franchise re-emerged two years ago. Ron Howard took over for Phil Lord and Chris Miller on the Han Solo film while Tony Gilroy did the reshoots on Rogue One for Gareth Edwards.

It’s almost like no one knows what to do with Star Wars because George Lucas screwed up the franchise so bad with Episodes 1-3.

Episode IX is the alleged end of the Skywalker thread, but given that Disney wants to make Star Wars films for the next 100 years, Episode IV is really just another film in the franchise. Unfortunately for Hayden Christensen’s wooden acting, the Skywalkers will be around forever. You’re never living those performances down, Hayden.

Episode IX comes out May 24, 2019. Episode VIII comes out later this year in case you want to see what a non-J.J. Abrams version of the franchise looks like.