Star Wars: The Last Jedi Director Is "Not Thinking" About Taking Over Episode 9

Last week it was announced that Star Wars Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow had left the movie, leading to much speculation about who would replace him. It was reported that Rian Johnson, who is currently finishing this December's The Last Jedi, could step in to take over the next part of the Star Wars saga. However, Johnson has now commented on this and revealed that he currently has no plans to make another movie in the blockbuster franchise.

Johnson was asked about the rumors that he might take over from Trevorrow while at a Star Wars press event in Japan. "It was never the plan for me to direct Episode IX, so I don't know what's going to happen with it," he said, via Star Wars Underworld. "I was entirely focused on Episode VIII and having this experience. Now I'm just thinking about putting the movie out there and seeing how audiences respond to it.

"So no, I'm not really thinking about that right now. Whoever does it, I'm going to be really excited to be an audience member again, and to sit down and see what the next filmmaker has to show us and where this story ends up going."

Trevorrow's departure from Episode IX was announced by Lucasfilm last week. A statement read: "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."

However, a subsequent report by Vulture suggested however that Lucasfilm boss Kathleeen Kennedy fired Trevorrow because he was "difficult," and that the terrible reviews for his last film, The Book of Henry, hadn't helped.

The site's sources stated that: "He had an egotistical point of view--and he was always asserting that. When the reviews for Book of Henry came out, there was immediately conjecture that Kathy was going to dump him because they weren't thrilled with working with him anyway. He's a difficult guy. He's really, really, really confident. Let's call it that."

Episode IX is slated for release on May 24, 2019, which gives Lucasfilm quite a bit more time to deal with the situation than it had with the Han Solo movie. In that case, directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (of The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street fame) were dropped earlier this year, just 11 months before the film's scheduled debut. Soon after, Ron Howard was brought aboard to replace them, with reports suggesting that Miller and Lord had clashed with Lucasfilm.