Why Star Wars Is Losing Its Directors

Another ‘Star Wars’ director has bitten the dust, and even though ‘Episode IX’ is in the safe hands of J.J. Abrams, Dev Allen has a theory as to why ‘Star Wars’ is losing its directors.

 

Amidst all the hype for Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, the Star Wars galaxy was rocked by the news that Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow had been removed from production on Star Wars Episode IX. Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi is still in the safe hands of Rian Johnson, and with the recent announcement that Star Wars Episode 9 is going back to JJ Abrams, The Force Awakens director will no doubt be a solid pick for a Star Wars director. J.J. Abrams knocked Star Wars: The Force Awakens out of the park, but it’s still a very bad look for Lucasfilm to get rid of so many directors, which is why we’ve come up with our theory about the Star Wars’ director problem and what it means for the Star Wars Han Solo movie, Star Wars Episode 9, and the future of the Star Wars franchise.

 

So why do all these directors keep leaving Star Wars? Explained in this video, it’s probably got a lot to do with Hollywood moving towards a more TV-like approach to production. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy is in charge of the whole brand, and unlike the New Hollywood cinematic era, the director is no longer the auteur when it comes to big franchises like Star Wars. In TV production, the showrunner calls the shots. In TV like The Walking Dead, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, and others, the directors are more like hired guns who have to bend to the whims of the producer/showrunner. With the rise of cinematic universes like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, the producer has a much more important role in ensuring quality across the board. And ever since the Disney Star Wars purchase, the Star Wars saga is being run in the same way.