When the credits rolled on The Force Awakens, and Lucasfilm began shifting its resources over to Rogue One, no one – not even the man himself – expected J.J. Abrams to return to the Star Wars franchise. Not that we’re complaining.
This is, after all, the same guy who resurrected a dormant giant in 2015, and though The Force Awakens played things safe with its numerous callbacks to A New Hope – the dogged Resistance, the trench run, the spherical planet killer…you name it – Star Wars: Episode IX lends Abrams the chance to toy with expectations. And according to Domhnall Gleeson at least, that’s exactly what he may do.
Speaking to Radio Times in a recent interview, the actor, who plays General Hux in the franchise, teased that Abrams may be going in some “unexpected” directions with the film.
“What was brilliant [about The Last Jedi] was that it was unexpected. And I’ve got a feeling that what J.J. does may also be unexpected.”
While that’s exciting to hear, The Last Jedi also took the story and several characters in some very unexpected directions, and fan backlash was pretty strong. With that in mind, it’ll be interesting to see just how bold J.J. goes with Episode IX. He’s said in the past that the divisive reaction to Rian Johnson’s film won’t impact his work at all, but we imagine that the director may think twice about, say, killing off a beloved character.
On that note, it’ll also be interesting to see the way in which Abrams and writer Chris Terrio plan to handle General Leia’s inevitable retirement. Yes, Carrie Fisher’s untimely death raised a lot of questions for Episode IX, and though her Leia Organa was originally supposed to have a prominent role in the trilogy-capper, Fisher’s passing meant Lucasfilm has to start over from scratch – all the while ruling out any plans to resurrect the Star Wars legend via CGI.
One way or another, Star Wars: Episode IX has been scheduled for release on December 20th, 2019, with Solo: A Star Wars Story expected to take the classic saga in a radically new direction – think a heist/Western blend of Heat and…The Big Lewboski? – on May 25th of this year.
