The recent and somewhat dramatic firing of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from the Star Wars: Han Solo movie was the last choice available after a string of attempts by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy to steer the movie back on track. Josh Trank's removal from the 'Boba Fett' movie, however, was a justified knee jerk reaction to reports on the directors' practices and behavior on the set of the recent and critically slated Fantastic Four. Ron Howard's recent hiring as the new director of the Han Solo movie shows that after an initial push for young talented directors, Lucasfilm is reassessing this position and relying more on directors they know can deliver.
Following the recent, and polarizing release of Colin Trevorrow's The Book of Henry, it seemed only a matter of time before Trevorrow's position was placed into question, despite having enjoyed huge success with Jurassic World. According to unnamed sources from THR and Variety (via Star Wars News Net) it appears that Trevorrow's difficulties with producing a script for Star Wars Episode IX, which recently led to the hiring of British screenwriter Jack Thorne, has become the source of creative differences between Trevorrow and Lucasfilm, resulting in Trevorrow's departure from the movie.
Although it is a shame that Trevorrow and Lucasfilm could not find mutual ground, it is good that this has happened now rather than during production, as has happened recently with the Han Solo movie. While Lucasfilm no doubt have a short list of directors they would consider for directing Star Wars Episode IX, it appears, according to Deadline (via Star Wars News Net) that the director at the top of that list may be Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, who along with J J Abrams seems to be one of the few young directors able to work well within Lucasfilm's sphere of influence.
