It looks like Disney has found a director to complete its Star Wars Sequel Trilogy after J.J. Abrams gets the ball rolling with next year’s Star Wars: Episode VII, with Deadline revealing that Lucasfilm has reached a deal with Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper) for him to write and direct Star Wars: Episode VIII and Star Wars: Episode IX.
Update – Various sources are reporting that Johnson’s deal is actually to write and direct Episode VIII, as well as producing a treatment for Episode IX, which he may subsequently direct.
While Johnson will focus his attention on finishing off the Sequel Trilogy – with Episode VIII set for 2017 and Episode IX in 2019 – Disney also has standalone movies in the works from both Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) and Josh Trank (Chronicle). Meanwhile Abrams is currently shooting Episode VII, which will hit in December 2015 and sees Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Kenny Baker (R2-D2) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) returning to a galaxy far, far away alongside Adam Driver (Girls), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Domhnall Gleeson (Dredd), John Boyega (Attack the Block), Daisy Ridley (Silent Witness), Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) and Max von Sydow (The Exorcist).
