J. Abrams will return to Star Wars to direct Star Wars: Episode IX, so here’s everything we know about the sci-fi sequel so far. And the latest news is that actress Keri Russell may be in early talks with J. Abrams to join the next Star Wars installment in an undisclosed role.<\/b>
\nSo you watched Star Wars: Episode VIII \u2014 The Last Jedi, which hit movie theaters in mid-December, and you\u2019re itching for hints about what\u2019s to come? There are plenty of interesting tidbits emerging about the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX, including some hints about what\u2019s to come for two of the new trilogy\u2019s most popular characters.
The latest trilogy of Star Wars films will conclude with Episode IX, with director J. Abrams returning to close out the latest arc of the iconic sci-fi saga after helming 2015\u2019s franchise-relaunching Star Wars: Episode VII \u2014 The Force Awakens. He directs from a script he co-wrote with Academy Award winner Chris Terrio ( Argo, Justice League). The sequel trilogy\u2019s final chapter is scheduled to hit theaters December 20,2019. Here is everything we know so far. Spoilers ahead.
Actress Keri Russell may be in early talks with J. Abrams to join the next Star Wars installment, according to Variety. Russell and Abrams previously worked together on Mission Impossible III. Lucasfilm executives and Abrams have reportedly been meeting with a few actresses to discuss a new role, and sources say that they have settled on Russell after a two-month search. No news yet on whether she will play a hero or a villain in the franchise, but she should bring the same great acting chops she\u2019s offered to action-laden releases like The Americans and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Star Wars films are notorious for using working titles to throw off the public and keep production costs low in terms of locations and services. Episode VI \u2014 Return of the Jedi was shot under the guise of a horror movie called Blue Harvest. Meanwhile, Episode II \u2014 Attack of the Clones poked fun at the negative response to prequel trilogy\u2019s Gungan leader with the title Jar-Jar\u2019s Big Adventure.
Sometimes the production title can offer clues, though they may not make sense until after the film is released. Fantha Tracks has reported that the working title for Episode IX will be trIXie. The site claims that \u201cthe same research methods and public sources were used by the same team to uncover the production names of every Disney era Star Wars film to date.\u201d
The Force Awakens was shot under the title AVCO, which Bleeding Cool reported was the name of the theater in Los Alamos where a young J. Abrams saw the first Star Wars film. So what does trIXie refer to, if anything? It appears to simply be a way to get the roman numeral for the number 9 in the title, but there could be more to it, and we will circle back when we have more information.
Following in the footsteps of the Star Wars trilogies that came before it, the current three-part story arc had its main characters separating in Episode VIII \u2014 The Last Jedi, the middle chapter of the saga (much like the characters did in Episode II \u2014 Attack of the Clones and Episode V \u2014 The Empire Strikes Back). As with those previous trilogies, though, they\u2019re expected to reunite in the third chapter \u2014 at least, that\u2019s what franchise actor John Boyega seems to think.
Asked about Episode IX during a convention in Washington, D. C., Boyega said he expects the film to bring together his character, Finn, with Daisy Ridley\u2019s character, Rey. The pair have been separated since the events of Episode VII \u2013 The Force Awakens, but that period apart could be nearing its end.
\u201cI haven\u2019t read the script for Episode IX,\u201d he said (via SlashFilm). \u201cBut Daisy did shoot me a text saying, \u2018Oh my gosh, I just heard from J. [Abrams], and we\u2019re back together.\u2019 That\u2019s what I\u2019m really excited about, is Finn and Rey back together again.\u201d
While discussing the differences in working with Star Wars directors J. Abrams and Rian Johnson, Hamill revealed how the creator of the sci-fi saga, Lucas, planned to handle the later years of his iconic character, Luke Skywalker.
\u201cI happen to know that George didn\u2019t kill Luke until the end of [ Episode] IX, after he trained Leia,\u201d Hamill told IGN . \u201cWhich is another thread that was never played upon [in The Last Jedi].\u201d
Although most of Lucas\u2019 plans for a sequel trilogy were reportedly scrapped when Disney took over the franchise, The Last Jedi did get to a point with some of its main characters that has a lot in common with those early outlines. Luke\u2019s death occurred one episode earlier, and Leia (Carrie Fisher) did show some aptitude with The Force in Johnson\u2019s 2017 film.
\u201cGeorge had an overall arc \u2014 if he didn\u2019t have all the details, he had sort of an overall feel for where the [sequel trilogy was] going \u2014 but this [sequel trilogy] is more like a relay race,\u201d Hamill said of the current saga, which appears to be letting its creative teams take the over-arching events in some unexpected directions, too. \u201cYou run and hand the torch off to the next guy, he picks it up and goes.\u201d
As for whether he\u2019ll return as Luke in Episode IX, Hamill indicated that \u201cno one\u2019s really talked to me about it\u201d at this point.
Whatever your thoughts about Episode VIII, most can agree that it was a visually spectacular film. Scenes like the throne room saber battle and Vice Admiral Holdo\u2019s lightspeed strike were breathtaking, thanks to some excellent art direction and production design. Now, the team for Episode IX has a new, distinguished member: Paul Inglis, who served as art director for the excellent (and gorgeous) Blade Runner 2049.
Thanks to a report from Omega Underground, we know Inglis has been tapped as the supervising art director for Episode IX, where he will work alongside Abrams and the production team to define the film\u2019s aesthetic. Inglis\u2019 previous credits also include Skyfall, Game of Thrones, Prometheus, and Children of Men.
Some Star Wars fans saw Rey (Ridley) and Poe (Isaac) meet in The Last Jedi and started hoping it was their meet-cute. The single scene was enough to fuel shipping rumors \u2014 so much so that Ridley had to answer a question about it during a promotional event in China. Redditor Niamor89 posted a video ( via Sleemo) showing the actress discussing the two Resistance fighters\u2019 possible romantic future. Put simply, she doesn\u2019t really want them to have one.
\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to have relationships that are not romantic,\u201d Ridley said. \u201cI don\u2019t think in films you always need a romantic relationship. I think friend relationships can be romantic in their gestures and their intimacy and all of that. So I think, hopefully \u2014 you know, if Rey and Poe get to have some scenes together and stuff \u2014 that there will be intimacy, but I think, for me, it doesn\u2019t have to be romantic love.\u201d
If that breaks your heart, know that Ridley hasn\u2019t spoken to Abrams about it yet, so it is still possible that he has other plans.
The next installment of the Star Wars franchise might be headed to the highlands \u2014 the county of Argyll in the Scottish Highlands, to be precise.
A report in Scotland\u2019s Daily Record indicates that a new Star Wars movie will begin filming in the western Scottish county of Argyll in June, with shooting expected to place in the historic mountain pass known as the Rest and Be Thankful. Although the initial report suggests that it\u2019s Johnson\u2019s spinoff trilogy that will be filming in Argyll, there\u2019s almost no chance whatsoever that cameras will begin rolling on the first film in that series during 2018 \u2014 so if a Star Wars movie does indeed begin shooting in Argyll, it\u2019s likely to be Abrams\u2019 Episode IX.
Although The Last Jedi seemed to offer some resolution regarding the mystery of Rey\u2019s lineage, Johnson indicated in an interview with Huffington Post that fans might not have heard the end of that particular identity crisis.
\u201cAnything\u2019s still open, and I\u2019m not writing the next film. [Abrams and Terrio] are doing it,\u201d said Johnson while discussing the revelation about Rey\u2019s parents that has become one of the most polarizing aspects of the film.
Don\u2019t let the description of Episode IX as a \u201cconcluding chapter\u201d mislead you: The stars of the sequel trilogy aren\u2019t going away.
In a November 2017 interview featured on The Star Wars Show, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy indicated that many of the main characters introduced in Star Wars: Episode VII \u2013 The Force Awakens will continue their stories in Episode IX and beyond the sequel trilogy.
\u201cWe\u2019re sitting down now, we\u2019re talking about the next 10 years of Star Wars stories, and we\u2019re looking at, narratively, where that might go,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cFuture stories beyond Episode IX with these new characters \u2014 Rey, Poe, Finn, BB-8 \u2014 but we\u2019re also looking at working with people who are interested in coming into the Star Wars world and taking us places we haven\u2019t been yet. That\u2019s exciting too because it\u2019s a vast galaxy far, far away.\u201d
The next dose of Star Wars may feel far, far away, but don\u2019t worry \u2014 LucasArts won\u2019t leave us swinging in the wind. While we wait for Episode IX, we\u2019ll be offered a second \u201canthology\u201d movie for the sci-fi franchise, following 2016\u2019s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Solo, everyone\u2019s favorite shoot-first smuggler and all-around rogue, is getting his very own movie in 2018. It will explore his life in the years leading up to his fateful encounter with Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in a Mos Eisley cantina. If past timing holds true, we should be getting our first look into Han Solo\u2019s backstory by the end of January 2018.
After original Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow exited the project in September 2017 due to creative differences with the studio, it didn\u2019t take long for Disney and Lucasfilm to find a new filmmaker to helm the movie \u2014 and he was a familiar face to fans of the franchise.
Abrams was named the new director of the film just a week after the post was vacated, with the film\u2019s new co-writer Terrio was also announced at that time.
\u201cWith The Force Awakens, J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy,\u201d said Kennedy in a statement accompanying the announcement on StarWars.com .
Given the success of Abrams\u2019 franchise-relaunching sequel The Force Awakens, the decision to bring him back for Episode IX seems like a safe bet for the studio.
Released in 2015, The Force Awakens went on to break a slew of box office records, earning $936.6 million in U. S. theaters and more than $2 billion worldwide. It\u2019s currently the highest-grossing movie of all time domestically, and in third place on the all-time worldwide box office charts (after Avatar and Titanic). The film also received overwhelmingly positive reviews from professional critics and fans alike, and currently ranks third (after Star Wars: Episode V \u2014 The Empire Strike Back and the franchise-starting Star Wars: Episode IV \u2014 A New Hope) and among the best-reviewed films in the franchise on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.
Not too long after Abrams was announced as the director of Episode IX, the film also received a new release date.
Star Wars: Episode IX will officially hit theaters December 20,2019, several months later than its original release date of May 24,2019.
The new release date has the film arriving in theaters just a week after the sequel to Wonder Woman, and on the same weekend as a live-action feature based on the popular Broadway musical Wicked. It also allows the film to carry on the tradition set by the two serialized installments of the Star Wars franchise that immediately precedes it, Star Wars: Episode VII \u2013 The Force Awakens and Star Wars: Episode VIII \u2013 The Last Jedi, which were both assigned December premieres.
The death of Carrie Fisher in December 2017 was felt throughout the film\u2019s fandom and left big questions about how the studio would handle her character in the remaining sequels.
\u201cObviously, with Carrie having passed away, it shook everybody,\u201d Kennedy told Entertainment Weekly in April 2017. \u201cWe pretty much started over.\u201d
Fisher had finished filming most of her scenes for Star Wars: Episode VIII \u2013 The Last Jedi before her death, but the part she was to play in Episode IX had to be revised significantly. It was initially suggested by Fisher\u2019s brother, Todd Fisher, that the studio had enough existing footage of the actress to use in Episode IX.
\u201cHow do you take her out of it? And the answer is, you don\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s as much a part of it as anything, and I think her presence now is even more powerful than it was, like Obi-Wan \u2014 when the saber cuts him down he becomes more powerful. I feel like that\u2019s what\u2019s happened with Carrie. I think the legacy should continue.\u201d
However, several months later \u2014 likely after Abrams and Terrio had begun hashing out the story for the film with the studio \u2014 Kennedy indicated (in an interview with Good Morning America) that Fisher was no longer expected to appear in Episode IX.
\u201cWe had not written the script [for Episode IX] yet, but we regrouped and started over again in January,\u201d said Kennedy of the studio\u2019s plans for Episode IX . \u201cSadly, Carrie will not be in IX. We\u2019ll see a lot of her in VIII, which is great.\u201d
Updated on July 6: Added news on the potential casting of Keri Russell.<\/p>\n

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