Star Wars will be getting a new director for Episode IX

Lucasfilm is no longer playing around and has booted its second Star Wars director this year — and this time, it’s for the main saga.

For Lucasfilm to decide that the Han Solo movie needed a new director seemed like a huge deal at the time. Now, the company has made an even bigger move by publicly announcing on the official Star Wars website that Episode IX will no longer have Colin Trevorrow behind the camera.

We here at Culturess started wondering back when Trevorrow’s most recent film, The Book of Henry, came out. At the time, Rachel Leishman noted that it wasn’t just her who worried about what Trevorrow could do to our beloved franchise, and apparently, Lucasfilm has either heard that concern or had some concerns of its own. In her discussion of the Ron Howard replacement for the Han Solo film, Buckie Wells also pointed out that this franchise really has to be certain that it’s going to have quality movies.

So, the question is … who’s going to take over? This isn’t completely like the Howard situation. Whoever takes over on Episode IX has just under two years to get on the case, since the film currently has a May 2019 release date. As far as we know, that’s still going to be the plan.

LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 31: Colin Trevorrow attends the UK Gala screening of Walt Disney Studios ‘Pete’s Dragon’ at Ham Yard Hotel on July 31, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Walt Disney Studios)

Naturally, Lucasfilm’s statement, linked above, doesn’t have much in the way of details, but this line here might be the most telling:

"“[We] have all come to the conclusion that our visions for the project differ.”"

As of this time, it doesn’t seem as though any details have slipped through the cracks as they did when Miller and Lord departed their movie. But for Lucasfilm to publicly admit that it didn’t like where Trevorrow was going … that’s pretty big.

Honestly, we’d still like to do as Rachel suggested and see Patty Jenkins take the film on. She’s pretty much proven herself with Wonder Woman, and if The Last Jedi is as dark as basically everything suggests it is (down to BB-9E’s existence), she might have a cool take that brings it back to positive … so long as she’s not completely consumed by Wonder Woman 2.

Next: TLJ's going to give Poe some upgrades

Seriously, though, Lucasfilm. This is an opportunity to let a woman director step on the scene.