Colin Trevorrow Kicked Off Star Wars IX

And just like that Star Wars Episode IX has no director. Disney has just announced that Colin Trevorrow is no longer taking point. He was attached to the film way back in 2015 and has been working with Lucasfilm as well as other directors attached to this new trilogy on creating a brand new story without George Lucas.

Here's what Starwars.com posted about the Jurassic World director leaving the project:

“Lucasfilm and Colin Trevorrow have mutually chosen to part ways on Star Wars: Episode IX. Colin has been a wonderful collaborator throughout the development process but we have all come to the conclusion that our visions for the project differ. We wish Colin the best and will be sharing more information about the film soon.”


Ah yes. The "creative differences" excuse. But in this case it might be true. There has been no rumors about behind the scenes grumbling or producer-director clashes regarding Colin and the Disney team. All signs pointed to everyone moving ahead after Rian's The Last Jedi for a 2019 release. But a small under the radar movie may have just screwed everything up. After Jurassic World Colin Trevorrow went on to direct The Book Of Henry, a little film about a genius boy and his unstable mother. When the film was released critics pounced on it like a lion would an injured gazelle in the middle of a flat plain field holding a sign that says "EAT ME!". It was that bad. Now this would be enough to keep a relative unknown director in director's jail for years. But since Colin was chosen years ago to end this new hyped up Star Wars trilogy it was all pretty much swept under the rug-until now.

Our first little hint was Disney hiring Jack Thorne for rewrites on Episode IX. Of course rewrites are normal so nobody really thought anything of it but looking back at the news now you can kind of tell Disney and Lucasfilm was gearing up for a change to remove Colin's print from the story. Maybe after The Book of Henry they finally realized he is too inexperienced to send off a mega franchise like Star Wars.

However you put it this is a huge blow not only to the creative aspects of the Star Wars franchise but the optics of it. Ever since Disney purchased the IP there have been 2 pretty brutal public firings of directors, Lord & Miller for Han Solo and Josh Trank for....Han Solo. On one hand you can surmise that Disney is very protective of the franchise but on the other it seems like if you don't completely fall in line to the Imperial Order it's a wrap for you, regardless of how far into production you are. So who will take up reigns after Colin? Rumors are Rian Johnson is already being looked at although nothing is set in stone yet.

May I recommend Alex Kurtzman? Nah I joke.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens December 15, 2017