J.J. Abrams Pitched The 'Star Wars: Episode IX' Story Today
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now playing in theaters everywhere, which means it's time for us to pivot onto the next Star Wars chapter! The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams will be returning to helm Star Wars: Episode IX, and news recently broke revealing Abrams pitched the story for the next Star Wars film to Disney CEO Bob Iger today. This all but confirms that any development on the new Star Wars from Colin Trevorrow's time attached to the project is being tossed out to make way for whatever Abrams has up his sleeve.The Last Jedi isn't even 24-hours-old yet, but director J.J. Abrams is wasting no time getting started on the next Star Wars film. Laughing Place confirms that during a big press conference that covered both the release of The Last Jedi and the historic Disney-Fox deal, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that J.J. Abrams would be pitching the Star Wars: Episode IX story to him today (December 15, 2017).Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow was announced to helm Star Wars: Episode IX back in 2015, and remained attached to the film up until early this year, where Trevorrow left the film. After Trevorrow left the project, rumors abounded that the filmmaker had clashed with Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy:
"There's one gatekeeper when it comes to Star Wars and it's Kathleen Kennedy," says a veteran movie producer, who has worked with the studio chief. "If you rub Kathleen Kennedy the wrong way — in any way — you're out. You're done. A lot of these young, new directors want to come in and say, 'I want to do this. I want to do that.' A lot of these guys — Lord and Miller, Colin Trevorrow — got very rich, very fast and believed a lot of their own hype. And they don't want to play by the rules. They want to do shit differently. And Kathleen Kennedy isn't going to fuck around with that."
The news that Abrams is pitching the story for the next Star Wars film now all but confirms that any story development that Trevorrow worked on with writers Derek Connolly and Jack Thorne has been tossed into the trash compactor to make way for whatever Abrams has in store. Of his decision to return to the franchise, Abrams said:
"I had no intention to return. But when the opportunity presented itself to finish a story that we had begun with these new characters, to tell the last chapter of their story, it felt like there was a chance to do it in a way where we could go beyond, and do better than we did in Seven."
Abrams gave The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson plenty of material to work with for his episode, and now Johnson gets to return the favor, with his Last Jedi ending opening the door for multiple possibilities.
Star Wars: Episode IX is set to open December 20, 2019.