Star Wars producers announced over the weekend at the D23 Expo that the third installment in the trilogy scheduled to start this year will take Colin Trevorrow as its director. Star Wars fans expressed both skepticism and uncertainty at whether or not Trevorrow would succeed in the lineup of people helming new additions to the Star Wars universe.
Star Wars: Episode IX will finish off the new trilogy, set to begin this December when Star Wars: Episode VII arrives in theaters. Episode IX is still in the early planning stages, looking towards a 2019 release.
Colin Trevorrow was tapped after the enormous success of Jurassic World , one of the most talked-about films this summer. Though it made $1.5 billion, Star Wars fans aren’t all impressed. Despite the financial success, critics don’t believe he necessarily lived up to the success of 1993’s Jurassic Park .
But Trevorrow is learning from Star Wars greats. He’ll undergo a training, of sorts, when he begins working with others at Lucasfilm. He’ll get with Star Wars production artists to begin crafting his epic later this year.
The BBC quoted Trevorrow’s enthusiasm in his selection as a Star Wars director.
“We’ve been charged with telling new stories for a younger generation because they deserve what we all had — a mythology to call their own. We will do this by channeling something George Lucas instilled in all of us: boundless creativity, pure invention and hope.”
Trevorrow’s earlier movie, 2012’s Safety Not Guaranteed , was also a major factor in Lucasfilm’s choice for Trevorrow as director. Safety Not Guaranteed was a small time-travel comedy that ended up doing great on the festival circuit. It’s what led to his Jurassic Park gig, and then his selection as Star Wars director.
But Trevorrow should not worry about Star Wars fans already critical of him . They would give any Star Wars director the same treatment until they see how he handles things. J.J. Abrams was in the same position until he revealed the Episode VII trailer, and revealed Harrison Ford back in his Han Solo role.
But in the main trio of new Star Wars films, in between the upcoming J.J. Abrams film this year and the Trevorrow one in four years, Rian Johnson will direct Episode VIII , due in 2017. There’s also already a spinoff film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story , in the works, with more spinoffs to follow. Rogue One will be released after Episode VII and before Episode VIII , so Star Wars fans can look forward to a continuous stream of films to captivate them.
[Photo by Michael Buckner / Getty Images for CinemaCon]