Well there's two franchises you never expected to see overlap. After directing some of Breaking Bad's most well-known episodes, not to mention a pretty admirable career in indie films, director Rian Johnson is going straight into hyperspace with the next two Star Wars film.
The story broke initially on Deadline, soon after Johnson himself left a very coy message via Twitter - a little clip from The Right Stuff which we've included below.
According to sources, Johnson wrote a treatment for Episode VIII and will now write another one for Episode IX. Johnson has signed on to write and direct the first one, although it's not known at this time whether or not he'll be taking on the second film as well. There's been conflicting reports regarding the ninth film, with some source alleging that Johnson is to write but not direct.
This comes as Chronicle director Josh Trank and Godzilla helmer Gareth Edwards have both signed on to direct Star Wars spin-off films, the topics of both remain a mystery for now.
Initial thoughts? We're VERY pleased with this. Looper was, we feel, one of the most underrated sci-fi films in recent memory and demonstrated that Rian Johnson knows how to make a smart sci-fi film that also has a decent amount of excitement and entertainment with it.
Not only that, it's fairly clear that Disney / Lucasfilm are going after directors with a real love and affinity for Star Wars. JJ Abrams, Josh Trank and Johnson have all spoke about their love for the franchise before their current job titles so it's easy to see why they were selected.
Episode VIII and Episode IX are expected to be released in 2017
