Check out the new poster for Star Wars: #TheRiseOfSkywalker that debuted at #D23Expo. See the film in theaters December 20. pic.twitter.com/FUSZaGQZE6
— Star Wars (@starwars) August 24, 2019
Other highlights: Rey and Kylo lightsaber fighting on a rocky cliff with waves crashing around them in the water below. Rey using the force to send her lightsaber flying trough all of these trees (slicing them all) as it whirls around. #D23Expo
— Eric Goldman (@TheEricGoldman) August 24, 2019
It feels impossible, but today wrapped photography on Episode IX. There is no adequate way to thank this truly magical crew and cast. I’m forever indebted to you all. pic.twitter.com/138AprtFuZ
— JJ Abrams (@jjabrams) February 15, 2019
EXCLUSIVE: Greg Grunberg has been set to return for Star Wars: Episode IX, the final installment of the trilogy. Grunberg has been such a good luck charm for director J.J. Abrams going back to Felicity, Alias and Lost, that even when it appears his character didn’t make it, he’s not off the boards. Grunberg’s role here isn’t being disclosed, but he played the ace X wing fighter pilot Snap Wexley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and things didn’t appear to end well for him in the battle above D’Qar.
Sources tell Variety that “The Crown” star Matt Smith is joining “Star Wars: Episode IX,” which is currently in production in the U.K. It’s unknown at this time whether the “Doctor Who” alum will be on the side of the rebels or the evil empire.
EXCLUSIVE: Dominic Monaghan is joining the cast of Star Wars: Episode IX, Not sure what role he will be playing, but he’s set, and it reunites him with J.J. Abrams, with whom he did the ABC series Lost.
“The galaxy far far away has had almost as much influence as the one I live in, so I am delighted to be involved,” Monaghan said.
You can see more photos here and here.
STAR WARS: EPISODE IX CAST ANNOUNCED
RETURNING AND NEW CAST MEMBERS WILL JOIN TOGETHER FOR THE FINAL INSTALLMENT OF THE SKYWALKER SAGA.
Star Wars: Episode IX will begin filming at London’s Pinewood Studios on August 1, 2018. J.J. Abrams returns to direct the final installment of the Skywalker saga. Abrams co-wrote the screenplay with Chris Terrio.
Returning cast members include Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, and Billie Lourd. Joining the cast of Episode IX are Naomi Ackie and Richard E. Grant, who will be joined by veteran Star Wars actors Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, and Billy Dee Williams, who will reprise his role as Lando Calrissian.
The role of Leia Organa will once again be played by Carrie Fisher, using previously unreleased footage shot for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. “We desperately loved Carrie Fisher,” says Abrams. “Finding a truly satisfying conclusion to the Skywalker saga without her eluded us. We were never going to recast, or use a CG character. With the support and blessing from her daughter, Billie, we have found a way to honor Carrie’s legacy and role as Leia in Episode IX by using unseen footage we shot together in Episode VII.”
Composer John Williams, who has scored every chapter in the Star Wars saga since 1977’s A New Hope, will return to a galaxy far, far away with Episode IX.
Star Wars: Episode IX will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Michelle Rejwan, and executive produced by Callum Greene and Jason McGatlin. The crew includes Dan Mindel (Director of Photography), Rick Carter and Kevin Jenkins (Co-Production Designers), Michael Kaplan (Costume Designer), Neal Scanlan (Creature and Droid FX), Maryann Brandon and Stefan Grube (Editors), Roger Guyett (VFX Supervisor), Tommy Gormley (1st AD), and Victoria Mahoney (2nd Unit Director).
Release is scheduled for December 2019.
Keri Russell has just closed her deal to join the cast of #StarWars: Episode IX: https://t.co/UWwu6YT31K pic.twitter.com/FjndqhyDaB
— Variety (@Variety) July 27, 2018
Billy Dee Williams is returning to a galaxy far, far away.
The actor, who famously played the galactic gambler Lando Calrissian, will reprise the role for Star Wars: Episode IX, the next Star Wars installment from Lucasfilm.
Chatter about Williams joining the production, which begins later this summer, increased in recent days when the actor bowed out of an upcoming sci-fi and pop culture convention citing a conflict with a movie schedule. Sources confirm to The Hollywood Reporter that Williams will indeed be returning to the Star Wars big screen for the first time since 1983’s Return of the Jedi. The character made his suave debut in Empire Strikes Back.
Sources tell Variety that the “Felicity” alum is in early talks to join J.J. Abrams’ “Star Wars: Episode IX,” which Abrams is writing and directing. Russell and Abrams last collaborated on 2006’s “Mission: Impossible III.”
The role calls for action-heavy fight scenes. Russell has shown her ability to perform tough stunts in projects like FX’s “The Americans,” “Mission: Impossible,” and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.”
Abrams and Lucasfilm execs met with several actresses for the role in the past two months and settled on Russell right before the Fourth of July holiday. Abrams will likely cast two more actors by the time the film begins production at the end of the month. Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver are all expected to return.
John Williams has no doubt that Star Wars films will go on indefinitely now that the franchise is owned by Disney, but it sounds like he's over scoring them.
The iconic 86-year-old composer recently told radio station KUSC that he planned to score the upcoming Episode IX, but then he wants to be done.
"We know J.J. Abrams is preparing one now for next year that I will hopefully do for him, and I look forward to it," Williams said. "It will round out a series of nine and be quite enough for me."
Williams also revealed that his new favorite character is Rey, played by Daisy Ridley. And when he was asked to score The Last Jedi, the first question he had for producer Kathleen Kennedy was whether would Ridley return.
"She said yes, so I said yes," Williams said.
Star Wars: Episode IX is scheduled for release on December 20, 2019. pic.twitter.com/rDBqmuHX89
— Star Wars (@starwars) September 12, 2017
J.J. Abrams, who launched a new era of Star Wars with The Force Awakens in 2015, is returning to complete the sequel trilogy as writer and director of Star Wars: Episode IX. Abrams will co-write the film with Chris Terrio. Star Wars: Episode IX will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan, Abrams, Bad Robot, and Lucasfilm.
“With The Force Awakens, J.J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy,” said Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy.
EXCLUSIVE: Put Rian Johnson atop the short list of directors who might replace the recently departed Colin Trevorrow in Star Wars: Episode IX. Insiders said that nothing is done yet, but that prospect is certainly in the air right now. The Looper helmer fit seamlessly into the LucasFilm machine, which is no small feat given the number of star directors who’ve been chewed up and spat out under the “creative difference” line in exiting Star Wars movies. Deadline was first to tell you that Ron Howard was top choice to replace Lord & Miller as director of the Han Solo spinoff movie, and that came to pass. If Johnson, who directed the December 15 launching Star Wars: The Last Jedi, does in fact come back to take the reins of the next movie, it would somehow seem like destiny. When Deadline revealed that the Looper helmer was being hired to take on Star Wars, the original intention was for him to direct two movies. Stay tuned. It might come to pass.
We’ve now seen the Jurassic World helmer Trevorrow follow Phil Lord and Chris Miller out the door, which followed the previous exit of Josh Trank. And the sort of exit of Gareth Edwards, who completed principal photography on the spinoff Rogue One, but it is the worst kept secret in Hollywood that Tony Gilroy supervised the directing of the re-shoots that put Rogue One back on track as another billion dollar grossing Star Wars film.
Lucasfilm and Colin Trevorrow have mutually chosen to part ways on Star Wars: Episode IX. Colin has been a wonderful collaborator throughout the development process but we have all come to the conclusion that our visions for the project differ. We wish Colin the best and will be sharing more information about the film soon.
Jack Thorne, the British scribe who wrote the upcoming Julia Roberts-Jacob Tremblay movie Wonder, has been tapped to work on the Star Wars installment that is to be directed by Colin Trevorrow.
Trevorrow and his writing partner Derek Connolly wrote the most recent draft of the script and were working off a treatment by Rian Johnson, who wrote and directed Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the eighth installment of the sci-fi fantasy that opens December 15.
Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac are expected to return – but you never know who a Star Wars movie may kill off so don’t get too comfortable – with the installment eyeing a production start in January 2018.
The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm announced today two major upcoming release dates.
Star Wars: Episode IX is now set for release on May 24, 2019. Directed by Colin Trevorrow, the film will close out the third Star Wars trilogy.
In addition, the fifth chapter of the Indiana Jones series is now confirmed for a July 10, 2020 release. Both Steven Spielberg, director of every Indiana Jones film, and star Harrison Ford will return.
EXCLUSIVE: Lucasfilm President Kathy Kennedy says Carrie Fisher will NOT be in @StarWars Episode 9 as General Leia. #SWCO #TheLastJedi pic.twitter.com/gxH80QteYb
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 14, 2017
EXCLUSIVE: @StarWars: #TheLastJedi director @rianjohnson says "last Jedi" is SINGULAR in his mind. pic.twitter.com/F1RYJgUsA4
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 14, 2017
EXCLUSIVE: @StarWars director @rianjohnson says Rey's parentage will absolutely be addressed in #TheLastJedi. #SWCO pic.twitter.com/wgupPzYDkB
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 14, 2017
Thanks to DarthLocke4 for the heads up.
After months of speculation about Carrie's future in the sci-fi saga, Todd has revealed that Disney bosses want to bring Princess Leia back for Episode IX. And he said he and Carrie's daughter, Billie Lourd, have granted the studio rights to use recent footage for the finale. It is understood that CGI will not be used to recreate Leia.
“Both of us were like, ‘Yes, how do you take her out of it?’ And the answer is you don't,” said Fisher, as he attended the opening night gala of the TCM Film Festival in Los Angeles, celebrating “In the Heat of the Night.”
“She’s as much a part of it as anything and I think her presence now is even more powerful than it was, like Obi Wan — when the saber cuts him down he becomes more powerful. I feel like that's what's happened with Carrie. I think the legacy should continue.”
To what extent Leia will figure in to the storyline is not clear. “I’m not the only part in that equation, but I think the people deserve to have her,” said Fisher. “She's owned by them.”
And he said he had total faith in the filmmakers to “do great things.”
“You don't mess with this legacy,” he said. “It would be like rewriting the Bible. To me, Star Wars is the holy grail of storytelling and lore and you can't mess with it.”
Today at D23, Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn announced that writer-director Colin Trevorrow will direct Star Wars: Episode IX, which is set for release in 2019.
While production won’t begin for a few years, Trevorrow is heading to Lucasfilm this year to begin working with artists and his fellow Star Wars directors. “Colin is someone I’ve been interested in working with ever since I saw Safety Not Guaranteed,” says Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy. “The power of that film paired with the enormous success of Jurassic World speaks volumes about his abilities both as a storyteller and skilled filmmaker. We are thrilled to have such an incredible talent as Colin join our family and step into the Star Wars universe.”
Trevorrow states “This is not a job or an assignment. It is a seat at a campfire, surrounded by an extraordinary group of storytellers, filmmakers, artists and craftspeople. We’ve been charged with telling new stories for a younger generation because they deserve what we all had—a mythology to call their own. We will do this by channeling something George Lucas instilled in all of us: boundless creativity, pure invention and hope.”
Star Wars: Episode IX will conclude the third trilogy of Star Wars movies that begins with Star Wars: The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015.