Editorial: Why These New Star Wars Directors Are So Awesome

God those are gorgeous covers.

I told myself I wouldn't be posting rumors on this site. I wouldn't bring you endless rumor updates like"Lupita Nyong'O was seen eating frozen yogurt, so she'll be playing the Star Wars version of the Spaceballs character Frogurt in Star Wars 7!" solely for pageviews (though I'd likely think differently if I had any ad revenue coming from this site) That being said, the fact that the subject of this rumor has posted a video on Twitter that seems to indirectly confirm it, I'll give this one some credence.



Rian Johnson, the director of Looper and some of the best Breaking Bad episodes, is writing and directing Star Wars: Episode VIII (his level of involvement in Episode IX is still being disputed). He's the third director to be chosen in recent weeks to handle a Star Wars project, with Gareth Edwards and Josh Trank being chosen to handle spin-off films that will be released in between the major Episodes. And of course, we're all well aware of what J.J. Abrams is doing as his next film (yep...he's directing the long awaited sequel Morning Glory 2)

Man alive am I happy with this crop of directors that are handling the first non-George Lucas Star Wars projects in 31 years. Seriously, each one of these guys has directed a movie I loved (in J.J.'s case, exactly three) and their style and ideas fit like a bug in a rug with the Star Wars universe. J.J.'s love of Star Wars is well documented, but he also has the chops to make excellent ensemble movies to balance depth with riveting action. Josh Tranks Chronicle showed the sense of wonder and terror that can come with great power, Gareth Edwards Godzilla depicted the menacing with a sense of grace. And oh boy, Rian Johnsons writing and directing capabilities already put him as the perfect guy to handle these movies. His incredible ability advance and develop the strong characters seen in Looper and Breaking Bad just makes me giddy at the thought of what he could with our new cast of Jedi and Sith.

It's apparent that the crew at Lucasfilm are taking a cue from fellow Disney owned company Marvel Studios and getting some out of the box directors to create not only good buzz on the internet before the movies release, but also make great cinema. The wide world of Star Wars hasn't even scratched its potential on the big screen, and with these four leading the charge, we should be seeing that tantalizing potential realized and so much more.

And now, for a good laugh, take a look at this Tweet that Brett B posted in the comment section over at The Dissolve article announcing this news.