With J.J. Abrams' STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS successfully paving the way and getting the world excited about Star Wars once again, the pressure is on for Rian Johnson and Colin Trevorrow to keep the ball rolling while offering fans something new with their Star Wars installments. Rian Johnson will be writing and directing STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII, but he's also penning the story for Colin Trevorrow's STAR WARS: EPISODE IX, which Trevorrow said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight means that the pair are working very closely together.
A story must evolve or perish, and Rian and I are working closely together to make sure our stories build off of each other and continue to evolve and take us to new places, and I think that’s what the fans expect and what they want.
Just speaking for myself, that's definitely what I want; I wasn't all that bothered by the many original trilogy references found throughout THE FORCE AWAKENS, but I definitely want to see this new trilogy forge its own path with the sequels. Trevorrow also responded to the news that a petition to get George Lucas to replace him as the director of STAR WARS: EPISODE IX had been making the rounds, saying "it was funny, I saw that, I think it was yesterday, and it was on a day that I was at Lucasfilm giving this big speech to everyone about how we want to channel the invention and the raw creativity and the boldness that George brought these films, and that's something that I'm so focused on and not being afraid that we're going to embarrass ourselves by doing something that might be crazy because when George Lucas made Star Wars, a lot of people thought it was crazy, but it's the greatest story ever told." No toes were tread upon, I think you're safe Trevorrow.
STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII is set for a May 26, 2017 release and STAR WARS: EPISODE IX will hit theaters on May 24, 2019.