Last night the bombshell news most of us had all seen coming finally dropped when LucasFilm announced the departure of Colin Trevorrow as director for the forthcoming Star Wars: Episode IX.
Related: Star Wars: Episode IX News
Although no replacement has been announced as yet Disney made a statement on Trevorrow’s exit from the saga;
“Lucasfilm and Colin Trevorrow have mutually chosen to part ways on ‘Star Wars: Episode IX,’” the statement said. “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.”
The decision could have been bubbling for over a month now as Wonder screenwriter Jack Thorne had been brought in to give the script, one that was written by Trevorrow and his writing partner Derek Connolly, a touch-up – Had LucasFilm and Disney already made the decision at that point? It’s highly likely and we can also assume they have already approached and locked in a new director to take the helm.
The figures coming out of the worldwide box office for Trevorrow’s Jurassic World obviously impressed the decision makers at the studio’s but after the disappointing outing of Trevorrow’s The Book of Henry earlier in the year, fans of the saga were starting to question the decision to have him at the helm.
Only three months ago Disney dropped co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from the Star Wars spin-off, the untitled Han Solo movie in which the subsequently replaced them with Ron Howard in the closing weeks of production. Both decisions were due to creative differences.
The studio still has time to find a new director to take the helm with production not due to start until early 2018, Star Wars: Episode IX is due for a May 24, 2019, release.
We spoke to Colin Trevorrow earlier in the year for The Book of Henry. Watch the interview below.
