J.J. Abrams Swoops in to Save STAR WARS: EPISODE IX

UPDATE: The release date has now been pushed back to December 20, 2019. *

J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode IX. He will also write the movie with Chris Terrio.

All this per the official site. One week ago, Colin Trevorrow departed the director's chair, some two years after he was named. Rumors whirled that the script Trevorrow wrote with his creative partner Derek Connolly was not what Lucasfilm executives wanted, and this seems to confirm that.

Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan did a similar thing with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, stepping in to rewrite the script, and Abrams clearly got along with the execs and has enough experience in the studio system to get the job done to their satisfaction, while also making the fanboys (generally) happy.

* No word yet if the release date of May 24, 2019 release date will get pushed back. And, just a few hours later, the official statement has been updated to reflect a new release date: December 20, 2019.