Looper director Rian Johnson is set to write and direct the next two Star Wars movies. Not to be confused with the spin-offs which Gareth Edwards and Josh Trank will helm, these are Episode VIII & IX (or eight and nine if your Roman is a bit dodgy).
Regardless of the size of JJ Abrams boots, Johnson has quite the amount of Star Wars franchise now placed solely on his shoulders. JJ is starting the ball rolling, but it is now Johnson who is tasked with keeping it rolling. Taking to Twitter, the director posted a clip from The Right Stuff which you can see below, and obviously sums all of this up perfectly. It’s an interesting selection of directors overall though. Relatively youung guys with small filmographies (Godzilla was Edwards second feature) and “limited” experience. However, with that comes an absolutely epic hunger and no doubt love of the originals. Bare in mind these guys grew up with Star Wars and never in a million light years would have imagined directing them as kids. So there is a passion in built in these guys which may be very hard to come by in an experienced, older director. And no doubt this kind of selection by Kathleen Kennedy and company, is a spot of genius and could well ensure the success of the Star Wars franichise into a far, far away future.
