The real question is: Why does Star Wars keep losing their directors?
Colin Trevorrow, the Jurassic World and The Book of Henry director, is no longer helming Star Wars: Episode IX.
Disney issued a statement on Tues., Sept. 5, that said “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.”
Trevorrow had been announced as director back in Aug. 15 of 2015.
So it appears another Hollywood break-up due to ‘creative differences’ — the industry's go-to phrase for whenever there is some sort of trouble on the set.
This announcement comes only a few months after Lucasfilm fired Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from the upcoming Han Solo spinoff film, replacing them with Apollo 13 director Ron Howard. Lucasfilm also fired Josh Trank from an untitled Star Wars spinoff in May of 2015, as well as hiring a secondary director — Tony Gilroy — for the Rogue One reshoots.
Trevorrow leaving the project isn’t totally an unexpected surprise. A couple of weeks ago Disney announced that Wonder screenwriter Jack Thorne had been tapped to do a polish on the Star Wars: Episode IX script — which Trevorrow had already completed.
We may never know the exact creative differences that tore Trevorrow away from the project or why Star Wars can’t seem to retain any of the directors they hire (although we would love to see a documentary on it some day), but it’s fair to say that Trevorrow’s past work has been divisive up to this point. While Jurassic World made over $200 million on its opening weekend, it was received with lukewarm reviews and The Book of Henry is one of the oddest and most head-scratching films this writer has seen to date.
This has caused mixed reactions, as well as many humorous ones, among Star Wars fans:
Star Wars: Episode IX was set to be released on May 24, 2019. The film had not gone into production yet, but this announcement is expected to cause delays. The newest film in the franchise — Star Wars: The Last Jedi — is being directed by Rian Johnson and will come out on December 15 of this year.
So, what do you think? Are you glad that Trevorrow is no longer attached, or would you have liked to see his vision? More importantly, who should Disney hire to replace him? Let us know in the comments below.