Rian Johnson Appears to be Set to Write and Direct ‘Star Wars Episode VIII’

June 20th, 2014

Brian Leak

The Star Wars news train keeps rolling along.

With JJ Abrams currently in production for Episode VII, and the recent reveals that Gareth Edwards and Josh Trank would individually be tackling two of the rumored three spin-offs, we’ve now learned that one of the best directors currently in the business is set to write and direct Star Wars Episode VIII. Rian Johnson is probably best known for his 2012 sci-fi favorite, Looper, but if you slept on Brick and The Brothers Bloom, do yourself a favor and experience the vastly different worlds of both. Directing three episodes of Breaking Bad certainly doesn’t hurt the old résumé either.

According to Deadline, Johnson is making a deal with Lucasfilm to helm Episode VIII, and even possibly Episode IX, but that second part is a bit fuzzy as far as information goes. He may only be writing a treatment for Episode IX, but we shall see. Johnson himself hasn’t directly commented on the news but he did tweet a scene from The Right Stuff that couldn’t possibly sum up the feeling of taking on such a daunting task more perfectly.

As this is all a bit vague still at this point, we’ll be sure to keep you updated as official details trickle out from Lucasfilm and/or Rian Johnson himself.