Rian Johnson has confirmed the status of Star Wars: The Last Jedi — so what does that mean for Episode IX?

If Star Wars: The Last Jedi coming out didn’t feel real enough, how about its director posting that a very big step has been completed?

With how wild 2017 has been in general (read what you like into that), it’s seemed at times that Star Wars: The Last Jedi would never arrive, as though it were some ephemeral goal to reach rather than a real film.

However, with the help of Star Wars News Net, things have suddenly got a lot more real.

After all, when the official Star Wars Instagram confirms things, you know it’s a big deal.

That means that The Last Jedi is very unlikely to undergo any more changes, so whatever J.J. Abrams is going to do to Episode IX (and that includes, perhaps most importantly, his script) … he’s going to have to deal with whatever Rian Johnson’s done to The Last Jedi. 

It’s likely there’s no longer room for any special requests. Presumably, though, Abrams will see the film before the rest of us plebeians, so he can use whatever The Last Jedi focuses on to guide his own take on the conclusion to this sequel trilogy, and that goes beyond just making sure that continuity is followed. That can include meditating on certain themes, or exploring ideas on a deeper level than Johnson has done in The Last Jedi. Whether or not Johnson will actually provide consultation remains to be seen, but it might very well happen.

To pull things out once more, it means that Lucasfilm will probably drop some more information sooner rather than later … like that trailer that may or may not be coming next month, as Mark Hamill possibly hinted at, as noted by FanSided, the mothership of our network.

Next: Who might pop into the Han Solo standalone?

The company now knows, after all, exactly what it’s going to be putting in theaters two months and change from now. If you weren’t excited before (if that’s even possible), it’s time to be excited now.