Once scheduled to begin in February of next year, production on the so-far untitled Star Wars: Episode IX is now expected to kick off in June 2018, which ought to lend J.J. Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio (Justice League) ample time to finalize a script.
First reported by Variety, it’s understood Lucasfilm and Disney had already begun making the necessary arrangements to accommodate said delay, and only made the news official after it was revealed that Abrams, not Rian Johnson, would be the one to shepherd Episode IX toward its December 2019 release date.
It’s a remarkably quick turnaround that echoes Lucasfilm’s handling of the Han Solo fallout, during which time Phil Lord and Chris Miller were formally dismissed from the project to make way for the Oscar-winning Ron Howard. Expect that one to exit lightspeed and descend into theaters on May 25th, 2018. And while the mere thought of an 18-month wait is enough to send Star Wars nuts up the wall, a prolonged spell in production can only be a good thing for Abrams and Terrio’s creative vision.
Because let’s face it: if the departures of Lord, Miller, and now Trevorrow prove anything, it’s that Lucasfilm’s isn’t messing around with its billion-dollar juggernaut. Rather than hand over the keys to experimental filmmakers – Lord and Miller, for instance, were said to be encouraging ad-lib performances before their swift dismissal – the Powers That Be have narrowed their focus to those directors who are more than capable of handling the pressure of big-budget filmmaking.
And by that logic, after his work on Paramount’s Star Trek and The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams is safe as houses. He’ll begin formulating the Star Wars: Episode IX script with Terrio over the next few months, before filming kicks off in anticipation of that newly-unveiled release date: December 20th, 2019.
