By In sudden and unexpected news, Lucasfilm announced that it has parted ways with director Colin Trevorrow. Trevorrow will no longer be directing Star Wars Episode IX. A new director for the film has yet to be named.
Here is the full brief statement:
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.
Part of me wonders if the drama over the Han Solo stand-alone film and the extensive reshoots for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story prompted this decision. Both were initially helmed by relatively young directors; Trevorrow is also a newbie with just three movies under his belt, one of which was Jurassic World. The critical lambasting Trevorrow went through over his recent film The Book of Henry probably didn’t help matters.
Since the original Star Wars trilogy was predominantly the work of reliable journeymen directors, the hiring of Ron Howard to complete Han Solo might signal a change of direction when it comes to selecting franchise filmmakers. In other words, I expect some reliable veteran to be picked as the new Episode IX director rather than a young independent filmmaker fresh from their first Sundance.
We’ll follow this story as more develops.
[via Star Wars]