It’s Official; Trevorrow Is Out As Director For Star Wars Episode IX

The Latest In A String Of Tumultuous Lucasfilm Shake-Ups

It’s been one helluva summer for Lucasfilm. Colin Trevorrow will not be directing Star Wars Episode IX. A statement released by Lucasfilm earlier 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.”

This is not going to come as a huge surprise to anyone who has been following movies over the summer; rumors have been surrounding this project since Trevorrow’s movie Book of Henry flopped earlier this summer. Initially the gossip mill got grinding when Lucasfilm brought in Jack Thorne to work on the script, after Trevorrow had a few opportunities to make revisions of his own.

Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that script issues were a continual problem between Kathleen Kennedy (Lucasfilm) and Trevorrow, and that the relationship between Kennedy and Trevorrow had become untenable, siting that Kennedy was not eager to go down this road again after having the directors Lord and Miller replaced on the Han Solo film in June.

There is no definitive word as of yet for a replacement, but I could see either Rian Johnson or J.J. Abrams coming in to handle directing duties. This is a situation where I think you want to bring in someone from “inside the family” rather than hiring out.

The Bottom Line

Here’s the thing; my first thought, is that this is the problem with publicly laying out the release dates and plans years before you even have a movie written, or a director that you are absolutely sure lines up with your vision. Ask DC/Warner Bros., they have had — are still having issues keeping directors and talent (there is new Batfleck staying/leaving rumor weekly) for essentially the same reason.

This is the third time, fourth if you count Gareth Edwards stepping aside in Rogue One, that Kennedy and Lucasfilm have had to make a course correction in their directors in the new Star Wars era. On one hand I applaud them for having the balls to take the hit in the media and make the moves they believe need to be made to develop the best film. On the other hand, you can look at Rogue One. This is the only example we have of their director shifting, and there are definitely problems with that movie; issues that could be argued came from having too many cooks in the kitchen.

To be honest, as a huge Star Wars fan, I’m a little uneasy about this. Lucasfilm has 21 months to get this movie made, my sincere hope is that they will take the time to get this right. If that means a page one rewrite and moving the release date back, do it — take the time to get it right. If it’s some minor tweaks and they bring in a familiar face like Rian Johnson, all the better, they just cannot miss on the closing chapter of the latest addition to the Skywalker saga.