We've only just experienced Rian Johnson's
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Episode VIII), but the wheels are already in motion for
Episode IX. With a release date planned for December 20, 2019, J.J. Abrams is wasting no time. The director, who is co-writing
Episode IX with Chris Terrio, has reportedly already pitched the story for the third and final film in the current trilogy, which will presumably close out this core
Star Wars saga.
Speaking during an investor's call that covered both the release of
The Last Jedi and the recently announced Disney-Fox deal, DIsney CEO Bob Iger revealed (via
Laughing Place) that J.J. Abrams would be pitching the story for
Episode IX "tomorrow morning [December 15, 2017]. We haven't heard anything since, but we assume the meeting went on as planned.
Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow was originally announced to helm
Episode IX back in 2015, but the director
stepped away from the project earlier this year due to "creative differences" with Lucasfilm. J.J. Abrams, who had the monumental job of establishing this new trilogy with
The Force Awakens, is now tasked with closing it out.
At the time of his return announcement, Abrams said,
"I had no intention to return. But when the opportunity presented itself to finish a story that we had begun with these new characters, to tell the last chapter of their story, it felt like there was a chance to do it in a way where we could go beyond, and do better than we did in Seven."
Of course, that initial story Abrams began has presumably been altered. Things have changed quite a bit for the franchise - and this trilogy - under the direction of Rian Johnson.
The Last Jedi threw a lot of curveballs our way, and how Abrams will manage to wrap it all up in
Episode IX remains a big question.