Star Wars: The Force Awakensis finally about to open, but theStar Warsexperience is only just beginning. The seventh episode in the franchise will soon entertain fans who might be too excited to remember that this film is but the first in a brand-new trilogy. So whileGeorge Lucas’vision may have been the imaginative anchor that held the original trilogy together (and the prequel trilogy, to a lesser extent), the directors of the new trilogy will be collaborating along with Lucasfilm/Disney studio brass to keep a cohesive storyline through the next three episodes.
During the press junket forStar Wars: The Force Awakens,/Filmhad a chance to chat with Abrams and Lucasfilm chiefKathleen Kennedyabout how far ahead they’ve plannedStar Wars: Episode VIIIandStar Wars: Episode IX, and just how much collaboration will take place among the directors.Rian Johnson(Looper) andColin Trevorrow(Jurassic World) will helm those movies, respectively, and have already taken steps to shore up their shared universe.
Here’s how Abrams described their process in outlining all three films in the new trilogy:
We don’t write a treatment but there are countless times we came up with something and said, “Oh, this would be so great for Episode VIII!” or, “Thats what we could get to in IX!” It was just that kind of forward-moving story. But we knew this had to neither be a backwards-moving nostalgic trip only nor a beginning of a movie without a satisfying conclusion, and that was part of the balancing act — embracing what we have inherited and using that where and whenever possible to tell a story that hasn’t been seen yet. We also knew that certain things were inevitable in our minds but that didn’t mean it would be inevitable for whoever came in next.
The person who’s coming next, afterStar Wars: The Force Awakenslikely lays waste to box office records, is Johnson, who’s already been working on the script forEpisode VIIIfor the past 18 months. He’s essentially been in prep for about a year, and you can bet he’s got his calendar marked for the planned production start on the newStar Warsfilm at the end of January.
As for how Abrams will be handing off duties to Johnson, Kennedy explained their collaboration as follows:
J.J. and him had a lot of conversations.
Abrams, who will serve as an Executive Producer on the next film, elaborated further on their cooperative efforts:
There were a handful of things we talked about that were going to be helpful to him. Some were very easy to do, and some things were things that I didn’t want to do for other reasons, but I tried to be as accommodating as I could. And it’s so cool to see what happens next in a way that only someone as talented as Rian could do.
When it comes toEpisode IX, it sounds like Abrams' role will be less of an in-depth collaborator and more of an Executive Producer. In fact, most of the collaboration between the final films of the trilogy will take place between Johnson and Trevorrow, which makes sense considering the transition from the second act to the finale. Since we’ll have until 2019 to wrap up this new film trilogy, there will be plenty of time to discuss how well each of the directors handled their sector of theStar Warsuniverse and decide which one pulled their vision off the best. Until then, be sure to spend at least a little time heading over to /Film for more from their talk with Abrams and Kennedy.
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