Will also pen the third film in the new trilogy…
Deadline’s Mike Fleming is hearing rumblings that Rian Johnson (‘Looper,’ ‘The Bloom Brothers,’ ‘Brick’) has been set to write and direct ‘Star Wars Episode VIII’ for Disney and Lucasfilm.
Additionally, it is believed that the filmmaker has also been tapped to write a treatment for ‘Episode IX,’ meaning that Johnson would essentially take over from JJ Abrams, who is currently in production on ‘Episode VII.’
It was recently confirmed that talent young filmmakers Gareth Edwards (‘Godzilla,’ ‘Monsters’) and Josh Trank (‘Fantastic Four,’ ‘Chronicle’) had been hired to tackle spin-offs from the core franchise.
Johnson humorously tweeted the following as word broke.