Colin Trevorrow Out as ‘Star Wars Episode IX’ Director

For the second time in the last four months, Disney and Lucasfilm have parted ways with the director on a highly-anticipated Star Wars film. In June, Lego Movie-helmers Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired from the Han Solo film, and now Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow is out as the writer/director of Star Wars: Episode IX. 

Lucasfilm announced Trevorrow’s departure from the film with a statement on their website.

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“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.”

The company cited different “visions” as the reason they cut ties with Trevorrow, similar to the reasons they gave for removing Lord and Miller for the Han Solo film.

Lucasfilm’s statement on that situation read in part, “…we had different creative visions on this film, and we’ve decided to part ways.” It should be noted however that Lord and Miller were let go in the midst of filming, while Episode IX is still in the preproduction phase.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a large part of the reasoning behind Trevorrow’s departure can be linked to the film’s writing, as the the publication claimed sources told them, “…script issues have continued to be a sore spot throughout Episode IX’s development, with Trevorrow having repeated stabs at multiple drafts.”

In addition, the Reporter piece also shed light on Trevorrow’s relationship with Lucasfilm head honcho Kathleen Kennedy, writing, “Sources say that the working relationship between Trevorrow and Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy became unmanageable. Kennedy, who had already been through one director firing/replacement on the Han Solo spinoff movie, was not eager for a sequel and tried to avoid this decision.”

It’s unclear as of now who Lucasfilm will bring in to direct Episode IX, though given the company’s recent history we can safely assume that it will be big name. They have time to figure it out though as Episode IX is scheduled for release May 24, 2019. The Rian Johnson-directed Star Wars: Episode VII – The Last Jedi will be released this coming December.