Another director is out at Lucasfilm.
It’s been an interesting 2017 for directors developing movies within the Star Wars franchise under the Disney/Lucasfilm umbrella. Earlier in the year, Phil Lord and Chris Miller left the Untitled Han Solo movie, replaced mid-production by Ron Howard. The oddity of that news was that the film was already well into shooting.
Today’s news finds a director leaving a production far earlier in the process, but still fairly far along. Colin Trevorrow, director of Safety Not Guaranteed and The Book of Henry, was already working his way through the follow-up to this year’s The Last Jedi, the third film in the current Star Wars saga. As of today, Trevorrow has exited Episode IX, per this statement from Lucasfilm:
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.
It’s a fascinating turn of events for the production, which is slated to hit theaters May 24, 2019. It’s likely that another director can be brought in to finish in time, but it’s yet another example of the somewhat ruthless creative control that Kathy Kennedy and the Lucasfilm story team are exerting over the franchise. One could take it one of two ways: either they are holding each production to a meticulous standard and are willing to change course if they feel they’re not getting what they want, or they’re not entirely sure what they want. At the moment, it’s easy to assume the former. We may not know until the Han Solo movie hits theaters in 2018.
More as the story develops…
Related Topics: Star Wars
