Colin Trevorrow No Longer Directing ‘Star Wars IX’

Lucasfilm and Disney have today (September 5th 2017) announced that Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow will no longer be directing their central Star Wars franchise’s conclusive Skywalker Saga entry, Episode IX.

A statement constructed on behalf of both parties has been released:

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.

There had been rumours regarding an imminent departure for Trevorrow since June, when the director’s latest outing – The Book of Henry (2017) – bombed both critically and at the box office ($4.6million worldwide). It seemed as if the writing was on the wall when Lucasfilm hired Wonder screenwriter Jack Thorne to work on the screenplay back in early August, Trevorrow also having a writing credit on what was his upcoming film.

With Trevorrow and Lucasfilm parting ways, it is not yet known whether the script work done by the director and his writing partner Derek Connelly will be used in any way for the finished 9th saga entry. At this time there are no rumours regarding a possible replacement for Trevorrow in either the director’s chair or the writer’s chair.

The 10th live-action Star Wars movie is set to begin filming in January 2018, immediately after the press tour for the Episode VIII – The Last Jedi concludes, so Lucasfilm will be looking to act fast on hiring a replacement.

The Star Wars films developed under the Disney banner to date under have been directed by J.J. Abrams (The Force Awakens), Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) and Rian Johnson (The Last Jedi).

We’ll have more news as it comes.

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