It was announced yesterday that Lucasfilm and Disney were officially parting ways withStar Wars 9director Colin Trevorrow and it set the rumor mill ablaze with possible contenders to take over the project. One of the names thrown around wasThor: Ragnarokdirector Taika Waititi, but the director apparently wants nothing to do with theStar Warsuniverse as proved by a recent Tweet that made a not-so-subtle jab at Lucasfilm’s director complications. Instead, it appears that the frontrunners for taking over the project are familiar faces includingThe Force Awakensdirector J.J. Abrams andThe Last Jedidirector Rian Johnson, but nothing has been officially announced at the time of this writing.
Taika Waititi took to social media to respond to a fan suggestion that he might be the director to saveStar Wars 9. When the suggestion was put out into the universe,Taika Waititi’s Twitterprovided a response. The director had this to say about the possibility of taking over as director ofEpisode IX.
“Lolz. I like to complete my films.”
In addition to being a rather humorous response, Waititi points to the obvious problem that Lucasfilm seems to have with their directors on the newStar Warsprojects. Waititi followed his response by saying, “I’d be fired within a week,” which implies that he would not have made it the 2 years thatColin Trevorrowhad pulled off.
Though Lucasfilm parting ways with Trevorrow came as a surprise, it was hardly a shock as rumors had been circulating for a while that there was trouble in paradise. The rumors really kicked up a notch when Lucasfilm fired Chris Miller and Phil Lord from theHan Solomovie, which was right around the time that Trevorrow’sThe Book of Henrycame out and crashed and burned in spectacular fashion. Trevorrow promised that the rumors were untrue, but it appears that behind the scenes, his relationship with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy began to deteriorate rapidly. The announcement that Jack Thorne was hired to rewriteStar Wars 9was pretty much the nail in the coffin for Trevorrow and the project.
Taika Waititiis putting the finishing touched onThor: Ragnarok, which is set toopen in theaters on November 3rd, 2017. The project looks to be a lot different from the past two installments of theThorfranchise with an almost psychedelic look and a more humorous tone that has been showcased by the trailers and teasers that have been released. Waititi let the cast improvise a large portion of the dialogue, which is a huge shift from normal operations for the MCU.
WhileStar Wars 9seems to be a problem at the moment, a new director is expected to be announced any day now. Ron Howard was announced to take over theHan Solomovie within 24 hours of the dismissal of the previous directors, but that movie was in the middle of production.Star Wars 9isn’t expected to begin production until January, so that gives Lucasfilm and Disney some time to find a suitable replacement for Colin Trevorrow. One thing is certain though, it will not be Taika Waititi.
