Jeremy here...
STAR WARS: EPISODE VII - THE FORCE AWAKENS is still far, far away, and Lucasfilm only officially confirmed Rian Johnson as the director of EPISODE VIII last week, but, fuck it, let's start speculating over which director is going to close out this third trilogy (if it's to be truly closed out). And let's start with the guy who evidently has done a bang-up job on THE FORCE AWAKENS.
According to Latino Review's reliable sources, Disney brass is so impressed with what they've seen of THE FORCE AWAKENS thus far that they want J.J. Abrams back in the director's chair for EPISODE IX. And this is surprising if you trust what other sources have said about the development of THE FORCE AWAKENS - which is that Abrams kinda wore out his welcome. It certainly wasn't the smoothest process (what with Michael Arndt's draft being thrown out), but perhaps everyone is realizing that, despite some early contentiousness, this is what is best for the franchise.
At this point, who the hell knows? There was speculation that Johnson might write and direct EPISODE IX, too, so I wouldn't count him out just yet. I mean, EPISODE VIII doesn't hit theaters until May 26, 2017. There's plenty of time to sort this out. But fans have to feel pretty good about this positive early buzz.
