At Disney’s D23 panel, Colin Trevorrow was announced to be directing Star Wars: Episode IX, the final film in the sequel trilogy.
That makes J.J. Abrams the director of Episode VII (The Force Awakens), Rian Johnson the director of Episode VIII, and Colin Trevorrow the director of Episode IX. Gareth Edwards will be directing the Anthology film Rogue One, which will release between The Force Awakens and Episode VIII, while Phil Lord and Chris Miller are directing the Han Solo Anthology film to be released between VIII and IX.
Who’s writing Episode IX?
Presumably Trevorrow will have a hand in writing the screenplay. We wouldn’t be surprised if he was joined by Derek Connolly, his writer from Safety Not Guaranteed. Keep in mind they’ll be working off of the story outline that the brain trust at Lucasfilm crafted, which includes Simon Kinberg, Michael Arndt, Lawrence Kasdan, and J.J. Abrams.
When will it start shooting?
Presumably, the film will start production in 2018, with them working on the story and screenplay leading up to that. We wouldn’t be surprised if they were crafting the screenplay while Episode VIII was shooting, as we know that Rian Johnson has been writing the script to Episode VIII for a while, which means he probably started while The Force Awakens was in production. Hopefully, the Force Awakens film makers have been providing some guidance to ensure continuity of characters and story.
When is Episode IX coming out?
2019, though we’re not exactly sure when. It’s either May or December.
