The Force Awakens Writer to Leave Star Wars After Han Solo Movie

For many fans, one of the most exciting pieces of news about Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the announcement that screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan was coming onboard. Kasdan was the co-writer of both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and his involvement with The Force Awakens suggested that it would be something special. But it now seems that Kasdan's time with Star Wars is drawing to a close.

As revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, Kasdan was interviewed recently by the German newspaper Bild, where he stated "I did four Star Wars movies. That's more than enough." The piece goes on to report that he plans to return to directing. Kasdan's earlier films include the likes of Body Heat, The Big Chill, and Silverado.

The fourth film will be the as-yet-untitled Star Wars spin-off movie about the young Han Solo, which Kasdan is writing with his son Jon and is set for a 2018 release. Kasdan was already working on the Solo movie when JJ Abrams approached him to help with The Force Awakens, following the departure of Little Miss Sunshine writer Michael Arndt.

In an interview with EW, Kasdan spoke about what drew him back to Star Wars, having turned down previous offers to work on the prequels with George Lucas in the late '90s. "I thought, 'Wow, okay, these people have lived--they're in a different place in their lives, Han and Leia and so on. They've lived the same 30 years I have. What would that be like? How would you see things differently?'"

"And I was trying to figure out how I saw things differently, and one of the surprises is that you don't learn all that much. You haven't become much wiser than you were, and things are not clearer to you, and the world is just as confusing as it always was."

The Han Solo film is being directed by 21 Jump Street helmers Phil Lord and Chris Miller. In August, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy discussed the approach that Kasdan and the filmmakers were taking towards creating a younger version of such an iconic character. "I think the key here is that we are identifying an event or events in Han Solo's life that gives you some idea of who he is and why he is the character we have all known to love," she said. "We don't want to spend time going back and answering a lot of questions that, quite frankly, I don't think people want answered."

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens on December 18, 2015.