Colin Trevorrow Opens Up About His ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ Exit

Solo: A Star Wars Story hasn’t been the only Star Wars movie to switch directors amid swirling rumors. Before Star Wars: Episode VIII became Star Wars: The Last Jedi (directed by Rian Johnson), Colin Trevorrow was hired to direct Episode IX and co-write the script with his Jurassic World co-writer Derek Connolly. But in September of 2017, Lucasfilm announced that they and Trevorrow “have mutually chosen to part ways.”

The announcement was followed by numerous rumors. Was it because Book of Henry was so tonally weird Was he “difficult,” as one unattributed rumor claimed Or — as was claimed in a more recent rumor — did he and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy just not in agreement about the script That last one seems the most plausible, as Lucasfilm replaced the script with one written by Chris Terrio and new Episode IX director J.J. Abrams.

Colin Trevorrow has now spoken publicly for the first time about his emotional departure from the director’s chair for Star Wars: Episode IX in an interview with EMPIRE:

“I don’t want to talk too much about it because I don’t want to affect the way that fans get to see these films. When we were kids, these movies came to us from far away. They were a gift. And the more we talk about how they’re made, the more it reveals that they’re just movies. But they’re not just movies, they’re more than that. Beyond that, I got the opportunity to tell a story that is a celebration of everything I believe in, I got to tell it to George Lucas and I got to tell it to Luke Skywalker, and those are experiences I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

Trevorrow is currently working on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and the next Jurassic Park movie after that, so he’s managed to land on his feet. And who knows With Lucasfilm making a Boba Fett standalone movie with James Mangold, maybe they’ll ask Trevorrow to direct a movie about any number of other important characters…

— Steve Bannister (@SteveisSensible) May 25, 2018

Where is my prequel about Boba Fett's inept cousin, Melvin Fett pic.twitter.com/OSneFZOjLP

— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) May 25, 2018

So there's going to be a Boba Fett movie, but still nothing for that show-stealing temptress, the Thala-Siren! pic.twitter.com/ujBBPcwQ08

— Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) May 28, 2018