- JJ Abrams is returning to Star Wars for Episode IX,
but can he stick the landing?
More Star Wars news dropped this morning
and we finally know who will be
wrapping up the sequel trilogy.
It's the man who first kicked things off, JJ Abrams.
- This is great.
- Now, The Force Awakens director
has been called in to head Episode IX,
completing the now familiar Lucasfilm cycle of,
"Choose director, fire director,
"replace director with the safest possible choice."
- He must not know.
- Right.
- The announcement was made just today
after The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson
ruled himself out as the Colin Trevorrow replacement,
saying that it was never part of the plan
for him to continue after Episode VIII
and that he was looking forward to being an audience member
for the next installment of the franchise.
But as with the best of controversies,
this one has gifted us with a whole new set
of JJ Star Wars tweets and memes
with the required lens flare joke thrown in.
But really, it seems like the general internet reaction
to JJ being the choice to close out the sequels is split.
Many feel that it's Disney looking for stability,
which most certainly seems to be the case
as JJ comes with the track record
of having already pulled off a successful relaunching,
plus he already has a rapport with the cast,
has proven he can meet a deadline,
and knows the story territory of the sequels
since he helped lay that foundation.
However, the other side of the fan base is the same side
that's not too keen on JJ stepping
into the director's chair again.
In fact, many were eager to see where the franchise would go
after his first installment because they were looking
for a fresh take that would diverge
from the template of the original trilogy.
One of the biggest criticisms of The Force Awakens
was that its story was too much like A New Hope.
Another concern fans have is whether or not
JJ can stick the landing considering
his track record with closing out stories.
When we take a look back at other JJ-led projects,
we see that he is notorious for getting franchises
on the board, setting up a bunch of really cool pieces,
and then leaving those pieces
for somebody else to figure out.
One of the biggest examples of JJ opening the mystery box
and then peacing out when it came time
to explain what's inside was Lost.
Now, the Star Wars sequels were in a similar place
when Rian Johnson started work on Episode VIII.
We had major questions about key characters
that were left completely unanswered,
like Rey's parentage and who the hell Snoke is.
Rian has said that there was no set road map,
so we're not even sure JJ knew the answers
to some of the biggest mysteries that he set up.
And when he has been the one to finish what he started,
the results were iffy.
Felicity and Alias had endings
that felt forced and not entirely in line
with the tones of those respective series,
and Star Trek Into Darkness also veered off
tonally from what he had laid down
in the 2009 installment of that reboot.
So, what will JJ do for Star Wars this time around?
Like we said before, if we look at his first entry,
it was basically A New Hope with new faces,
and maybe the influences of the original trilogy
is something that no director can resist
because from what we've already learned about The Last Jedi,
Rian Johnson also seems to have unconsciously rehashed
some key elements of The Empire Strikes back.
In terms of story arc, there's a reason
why redemption typically happens in the third act,
so honestly we don't expect JJ to veer too far
from the redemptive arc of Return of the Jedi.
Kylo will likely be the one to redeem himself,
the team will have to destroy yet another super weapon,
the murder planet, the mega moon killer,
the galactic guillotine,
whatever the next Death Star ends up being called,
and they'll probably take a trip back to Jakku,
but as to whether Episode IX will tread familiar territory
or strike out on its own, we do have some hope
that JJ's Star Wars street cred has earned him
some artistic story points to be able
to sneak some bold choices into the film,
and even without all the directorial musical chairs
that we've had this summer, if we had to pick,
between Colin Trevorrow and JJ,
sorry Colin, but we'd go with JJ to end the sequels.
- JJ Abrams!
- But what do you folks think?
Will JJ stick the landing?
Do we need an Ewok analog in Episode IX
or will the porgues be enough,
and what's in the mystery box?
What's in the box?
Let's discuss.