I think, and I could be wrong, that this hints at the tone of episode 8.

JJ does weird and awesome very well. But he's not particularly good at Dark.(See Fringe and the Star Treks.)

Meanwhile this new guy did Breaking Bad. That's Dark as ****. So it seems to me we're going to see some Empire Strikes Back story darkening for the middle film. Then we'll get another epic director for episode 9 to wrap it up.

This may reveal more about me than I really want it to, but halfway through the first season of Breaking Bad I told my wife "I can't watch this anymore. This guy is like the Emperor; he's completely evil, and the story isn't really about him but about how that evil twists everyone around him. And I don't think I can watch him do that."

And I was right, and it's some combination of spooky and cool that now the same showrunner gets to play with the actual Dark Side.

Rian Johnson wasn't the showrunner. Vince Gilligan was the mastermind behind Breaking Bad.

This is interesting news..... hm...

I think, and I could be wrong, that this hints at the tone of episode 8.

JJ does weird and awesome very well. But he's not particularly good at Dark.(See Fringe and the Star Treks.)

Meanwhile this new guy did Breaking Bad. That's Dark as ****. So it seems to me we're going to see some Empire Strikes Back story darkening for the middle film. Then we'll get another epic director for episode 9 to wrap it up.

Has Disney said their only doing 3, or this is a trilogy of new movies?

I remember reading that they will be doing trilogy storytelling interspersed by other movies, but that could have been speculation on the writer's part. I do think it's a sound guess for the storytelling piece though. Trilogies are widely used for a reason.

I think, and I could be wrong, that this hints at the tone of episode 8.

JJ does weird and awesome very well. But he's not particularly good at Dark.(See Fringe and the Star Treks.)

Meanwhile this new guy did Breaking Bad. That's Dark as ****. So it seems to me we're going to see some Empire Strikes Back story darkening for the middle film. Then we'll get another epic director for episode 9 to wrap it up.

Has Disney said their only doing 3, or this is a trilogy of new movies?

I remember reading that they will be doing trilogy storytelling interspersed by other movies, but that could have been speculation on the writer's part. I do think it's a sound guess for the storytelling piece though. Trilogies are widely used for a reason.

They are taking the "Marvel Approach and annualizing Star Wars Avengers-style, starting in 2015. A main story movie will be released every 2-3 years (Episodes 7-9), with one or more spin-off films on year in between. Currently, these are what we know:

Episode 7 Directed by JJ Abrams & Written by Lawrence Kasdan

Episode 8 Written and Directed by Rian Johnson

Episode 9 Treatment by Rian Johnson, no official word on writer or director (Early reports were that Johnson was directing this one also, but this was premature. No concrete announcement has been made.)

Untitled Spinoff Movie directed by Gareth Edwards, director of the new Godzilla film

Untitled Spinoff Movie directed by Josh Trank, director of Chronicle and the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot

For IX: Guillermo Del Toro or Irvin Kershner's reanimated corpse.

I think, and I could be wrong, that this hints at the tone of episode 8.

JJ does weird and awesome very well. But he's not particularly good at Dark.(See Fringe and the Star Treks.)

Meanwhile this new guy did Breaking Bad. That's Dark as ****. So it seems to me we're going to see some Empire Strikes Back story darkening for the middle film. Then we'll get another epic director for episode 9 to wrap it up.

Has Disney said their only doing 3, or this is a trilogy of new movies?

They've announced a trilogy taking place after the originals and at least two separate stand alone films, directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters (which was awesome) and Godzilla) and Josh Trank (Chronicle, upcoming Fantastic Four).

Which is interesting, I hadn't realized the (limited) work by both these directors.

Wild speculation: The Gareth Edwards film will take us to Dathomir, home of the rancors, featured in the fan favorite book The Courtship of Princess Leia. In that book there was also a lead-in to a story about a jedi expedition that crashlanded and got into trouble a couple of hundred years earlier that had to be rescued by Yoda. There is potential there.

Chronicle is about getting huge powers and how to handle them, and the movie handled it pretty well. I'd venture a movie about someone discovering his force sensitivity or learning to cope with them. Corran perhaps?

This is of course ignoring the rumors that the first stand alone movie will be about Boba Fett and the second about Han Solo.

There is also a rumor that there will be a Yoda film which could indeed take us to Dathomir and even keep things interesting for a movie about the courtship.

So, their previous work defines what they will bring to the stand alones? I really, really don't think this is what is happening. I think Kathleen Kennedy is quite serious in getting up and coming directors to add to the Star Wars franchise.

So, their previous work defines what they will bring to the stand alones? I really, really don't think this is what is happening. I think Kathleen Kennedy is quite serious in getting up and coming directors to add to the Star Wars franchise.

Not necessarily, but I do think that they were selected on what they can bring to the table. Monsters was an extremely low budget movie that brought a world inhabited by huge aliens to life with realistic characters. The screenwriter for the Gareth Edwards movie is the same one for After Earth, which was a bad movie, I thought, because it tried to do too much. It had too many things happening at once which meant that none were executed to the best of their potential (and Jaden Smith is just not a good actor). But there was a lot of potential in any of the story lines.

And you can see what Edwards was trying to achieve in Godzilla, but I think that there was too much meddling by executives.

I'm very excited to see what he'll bring to Star Wars, which has remote locations and huge creatures galore.

My major question is, why switch directors before the film even hits the screen? They should wait to see how good the first film is, and if they do a good job keep the same crew. You could end up with something like the Lord of the Rings trilogy... or switch directors and risk a final film that's way off base, as was the case for X-Men: The Last Stand.

My major question is, why switch directors before the film even hits the screen?

Probably because JJ Abrams' dance card is pretty full, what with at least producing the new Star Trek, Half-Life,Portal, Cloverfield, MI:5 movies.

George Lucas only directed ANH, after that he turned to producing until the prequels.

Let's see, Episodes 4, 5 & 6: different directors: great results. Episodes 1, 2 & 3: same director: craptacular results.

I think having a diverse talent pool for the directors is not necessary a bad plan.

There was a lot that went wrong with the prequels, so let's not even go down that road. I still don't think it's a good idea to start swapping out people before we see how well the first film is received. It just seems counter-intuitive, even if a handful of franchises were lucky enough to turn out well with mixed directors.

My major question is, why switch directors before the film even hits the screen? They should wait to see how good the first film is, and if they do a good job keep the same crew. You could end up with something like the Lord of the Rings trilogy... or switch directors and risk a final film that's way off base, as was the case for X-Men: The Last Stand.

This is a hint that the sequel is already well into development. If Episode 8 releases in 2017, they already have to be far into the scripting process, and Johnson will be rewriting based on work that's already in place. Let's not forget that before Lord of the Rings, it was supremely rare for the same director to stay for the sequel. Happened occasionally, IE James Cameron with Terminator/Terminator 2 and Francis Ford Coppola with The Godfather, but all three original Star Wars films, every Jaws film, every Alien film, etc. I think its great, it means that they are bringing a wealth and variety of talent, and that is what Star Wars needs at the moment in my opinion. I really think a big reason the original trilogy thrived so well because the director and some of the creative team changed between each movie, so each is different. It's too early to say that "Episode 8 will be darker because its Rian Johnson," but it means that the movies will be different and will be better because of it.

I'm inclined to trust that Disney knows what they are doing. I'm willing to bet that the different directors will work, and that the overall continuity will be there.

I'm inclined to trust that Disney knows what they are doing. I'm willing to bet that the different directors will work, and that the overall continuity will be there.

Trusting Disney. What a Rookie.

There have been two Star Wars trilogies so far; one had a different director for each movie, one had the same director for each movie.

More directors = more better!

I'm inclined to trust that Disney knows what they are doing. I'm willing to bet that the different directors will work, and that the overall continuity will be there.

Trusting Disney. What a Rookie.

Yeah, look what they did to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with all those Avengers movies only making all the monies. .

Based on how hard it was to get JJ to just do Episode VII, it isn't surprising that he isn't doing the main trilogy.

There have been two Star Wars trilogies so far; one had a different director for each movie, one had the same director for each movie.More directors = more better!

Why do people keep bringing this up? I'm not advocating keeping the same director, I'm advocating waiting to see how the first movie turns out before making changes. If they had swapped directors after TPM proved to be such a huge pile of Hutt dung, they might have spared us all the travesty of episodes two and three. If episode one had been amazing, however, why shouldn't they have kept the same director? Yeah yeah, people keep talking about switching crews and bringing in new talent, as if that's an automatic recipe for success. I don't buy it. That's a far bigger gamble than working with a director who's just proven himself capable of making a great movie.

Except it was known since the beginning that JJ was only doing the first one. It was probably one of the conditions on him doing Episode VII. He originally turned it down.

Except it was known since the beginning that JJ was only doing the first one. It was probably one of the conditions on him doing Episode VII. He originally turned it down.

It might be a foregone conclusion at this point, but that doesn't really change my point.

Your point ignores that JJ didn't want to do Episode VIII. I mean, they really had to fight to get JJ to do Episode VII. I'm fairly certain they knew they would have to get a new director for VIII when they nabbed Abrams for VII.

Then their decision making process is even worse than I previously imagined.