![J.J Abrams was announced as the director of "Star Wars: Episode VII" earlier today.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/b1/ba/b1ba4fc2c7cb78582cd02566d6dc1c32.jpg?itok=e3JOa0D2 "J.J Abrams was announced as the director of "Star Wars: Episode VII" earlier today.")
Right when it was announced that Disney would continue the “Star Wars” saga with “Episode VII” speculation was rapid as to who would direct. An early favorite was J.J. Abrams, the man who had reinvigorated the “Star Trek” franchise and a major voice in the sci-fi genre right now. Abrams, however, shot down those early rumors, saying in an interview with Empire:
“There were the very early conversations and I quickly said that because of my loyalty to ‘Star Trek’, and also just being a fan, I wouldn’t even want to be involved in the next version of those things. I declined any involvement very early on. I’d rather be in the audience no knowing what was coming…”
Was he using a Jedi mind trick on all of us? TheWrap was the first to break the story today that Abrams and Disney had agreed on a deal to have Abrams take the reins for “Episode VII”, which will be released in 2015.
Abrams is a logical director to bring the “Star Wars” franchise back to life, but why he is such a logical choice is the exact reason why many thought that it would never happen. As he mentioned in the quote above, his involvement with both “Star Trek” back in 2009 and this upcoming summer release of “Star Trek Into Darkness” was thought to leave him out of the running. How could the same man be the voice of the two biggest franchises in the science fiction genre?
In all likely hoods, he won’t be after this year. It would be hard to see Abrams continuing with the “Star Trek” franchise after he gets going with “Star Wars”; even harder to imagine Paramount would want that to be the case either. Should “Star Trek” continue with more films in the upcoming years, all bets are they will, it will be with someone else behind the wheel.
So what will be in store for audiences with a J.J. Abrams production of “Star Wars”? Well with screenwriter Michael Arndt on board as well, it seems that Disney is amassing strong, recognizable talent for its newest thoroughbred. Expect them to take some risks and add another layer to the “Star Wars” the George Lucas created.
Comments