Things could have gotten very hairy for Lucasfilm when director Colin Trevorrow mutually parted ways with the studio, leaving Star Wars: Episode IX without anyone behind the camera. Luckily for them, however, they were able to coax back a trusted hand to steer the ship: J.J. Abrams, who’d successfully directed The Force Awakens and earned it a spot amongst the biggest movies of all-time.
For a while there, though, Abrams clearly assumed his time with the franchise was over, so it must be weird to now find himself bringing the trilogy that he kicked off to a close. While speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the director opened up about his experience with Episode IX so far, calling it “surreal” yet “exciting” as well as taking the time to praise his “incredible” cast and crew.
“I was terrified and luckily I was surrounded by incredible people and we had a lot of fun [on The Force Awakens], and being back for Episode IX is as surreal as it gets and really exciting.”
Colbert then quizzed Abrams on the difficulty of weathering the storm of intense reactions from Star Wars fans. In comparison to the ridiculously divisive The Last Jedi, Abrams got off relatively easy, but there are still many out there who’ve made their dislike of The Force Awakens abundantly clear online. In response, Abrams admitted that it is “scary,” but the opportunity to make a Star Wars movie completely dwarfs that downside.
“As scary as it is, to put yourself in that firing squad, the opportunity is always bigger than the fear.”
As previously reported, Abrams also confirmed during the interview that a script for Episode IX is now in place ahead of the planned production start date this July, before Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20th, 2019.
