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JJ Abrams Wants Star Wars: Episode 9 Plot To 'Go Elsewhere'

Is Abrams hinting at the possibility of a new saga for the Star Wars universe?

49 Comments

Star Wars: The Last Jedi isn't even in theaters yet, but already Episode IX director JJ Abrams is giving some hints about his next installment in the franchise. Abrams was hired to helm the ninth film in the Star Wars saga in September, after it was announced director Colin Trevorrow had left the project.

As he works on the movie's script, along with co-writer Chris Terrio (Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice), Abrams doesn't want the film to live in the past. Instead, he's looking to the future. Given that Disney, the studio behind Star Wars, will no doubt be continuing the franchise, that makes perfect sense.

During an interview alongside composer Michael Giacchino (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Abrams tells BBC Radio 4, "I feel like we need to approach this with the same excitement that we had when we were kids loving what these movies were and, at the same time, we have to take them places that they haven't gone, and that's sort of our responsibility." That's a comment that could be taken both literally and figuratively.

No Caption Provided

Surely, the film will visit new planets and bring about new species of aliens--and possibly different droids--but there's more to the idea of uncharted territory in the Star Wars universe. The current trilogy continues the saga started by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in 1977's A New Hope. Over 40 years later, it may be time to explore some new story ideas.

In a galaxy as large as the one Star Wars exists in, there are plenty of stories to tell and many of them are getting the chance to shine in projects like Star Wars Rebels. Perhaps the time will come after Episode IX for a new saga to be introduced on the big screen.

It certainly sounds like something on Abrams' mind as he looks forward. "It's a strange thing. Michael [Giacchino]'s worked on things like Planet of the Apes, and Star Trek, and Star Wars and these are the things of dreams," he says. "Yet we can't just revel in that, we have to go elsewhere."

While the future of Star Wars is unknown, hearing Abrams talk about it certainly does make it exciting.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is in theaters on December 17. Star Wars: Episode IX releases on December 20, 2019. Between the two, Solo--the Han Solo standalone movie--will debut on May 25, 2018.

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nparks

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Edited By nparks

In Episode 9, Finn will decide that Jedi and Sith are too dangerous to have around, so he will search until he finds their greatest weakness, a glowing kyber crystal called "Sithtonite". He will unwittingly fall into General Hux's absurdly roundabout plan to get Finn and Kylo to fight each other, Ren with his darkside powers, Finn with his Sithtonite weapons and a fancy suit of Stormtrooper armor he stole from Phasma. Also, Rey will show up in a really short skirt, but for some reason Finn won't have any problem at all with her even though, logically, she's as much of a threat to the world as the guy Finn's decided he will kill just to be safe. But Finn won't be able to kill Kylo, because Finn will discover that his mom's name was also Leia (a different Leia, but still, same name, how about that?) Then Hux will magically resurrect Snoke as a super-Sith monster, and the three of them will reluctantly team up to end the greater menace. Ultimately, Kylo will kill the super-Sith monster with Finn's Sithtonite weapon, but at the cost of his own life. Finn will decide that metahum....err...Jedi aren't so bad after all and promise to go seek out the Knights of Ren to form a special team to protect the Galaxy, which will be easy, because Kylo's already done all the real legwork and left his files for Finn. Also, Hux will make some vague promise about an even greater "Darkside" threat coming to assure the audience that they just have to sit through a few more of these and someday, eventually, they might actually get a decent Jedi League movie, even though it will never be anywhere near as good as The Avengers.

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third_twin

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That's what I wanted episode VII...

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LonelyHippie27

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I hate this douche. All he is, is a rip-off artist. He steals his whole "style" from Spielberg. Force Awakens took SO MANY shots from New Hope, it was pathetic.

THIS GUY SUCKS ASS

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Dark_Matters

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Oh great, JJ Abrams and the guy who wrote the worst batman AND Superman movie are putting their...touches on the Episode IX.

I'm sure this will go well.

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Ishmael19

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Edited By Ishmael19

I love how hard people in these comments try to out-shit-on TFA compared to the other posters. It was a fantastic film and one of the best in the series. All the shit flinging one upping these comments section is doing won’t change that, and definitely won’t get you the sense of superiority and self worth you’re so desperate for.

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Dark_Matters

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@ishmael19: No, no it wasn't.

It was a rip off of the original movie, except with worse characters, a nonsensical plot, and the worst Mary Sue to ever appear on the screen.

TFA SUCKED, and the fact that you can't see it only demolishes your credibility and taste.

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nparks

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@Dark_Matters: To be fair, The Force Awakens was one of the top ten Star Wars movies of all time.

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diduseethatduck

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@Dark_Matters: hey buddy, it’s ok that Daisy Ridley has a bigger member than you. Let it go. No reason to act like a mean jerk in the comments. Geez.

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LonelyHippie27

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@Dark_Matters: I second that emotion!

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Gordon_Shock

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@Dark_Matters: Amen!

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Dark_Matters

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@JosephDMcDaniel: Could not agree more!

After watching TFA I went back and watched Episodes I - III, and was shocked at how much better they suddenly were.

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SADASDASD

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@JosephDMcDaniel: you got that right

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chrishayner

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chrishayner  Staff

@JosephDMcDaniel: You should rewatch the prequels.

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MJ12-Conspiracy

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@chrishayner: the prequels sucked yes but they were more watchable than the new crap......

SW2 was good, starts on an explosion, a chase through the city, an investigation, shenanigans at a cloning facility and at a droid factory, an epic ship battle between Kenobi and Jango, an epic battle in an arena, an epic ground battle with walker tanks, aircraft, artillery etc, a sad fight between Kenobi, Anakin & Dukoo then a crazy battle between Yoda & Dukoo and it ends with a Yoda one liner.....

on the other hand SW3 opens with a epic space battle over Coruscant and goes on to feature the end of the droid general [the guy got 1 movie and he was supposed to be a big thing?? but he dies in the end], order 66, a failed citizen's arrest and disarming [literally], murder, Yoda loses a fight in the senate chamber, anakin loses an arm...again and a leg then loses the other arm and leg when he becomes the man in the iron lung *breathes heavily* then the droids are turned off [roger roger], a scarred old man crowns himself tyrant.....and a wonderful lady just dies....I don't get that part.....eh, the action of SW3 kicks ass, the battles i mean but the drama bits...were kinda bad but at least most of it you can follow more....

naww safe to say so far the prequels are a point or 2 above the new movies....

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locke90

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Edited By locke90

@chrishayner: though I dislike the prequels compared to the new "trilogy" they are miles ahead in originality stakes and didnt shit all over the official eu by removing them from the star wars franchise besides why the **** do they need the immediate descendants of luke leia and han to be apart of the story they could have set it centuries even millenia after the yuzhan vhong attacked instead of rehashing the original trilogy plots.

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DarthLod

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If it is more JJ Abrams style of TFA and Ep 9, I'll pass. I was very disappointed to hear he was doing another movie. He doesn't understand Star Wars's STYLE imo. Rogue One was far superior of a SW movie than TFA.

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SADASDASD

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@DarthLod: Yeah Rogue one was good

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quigonzel

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@DarthLod: Rogue One was awful.

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dirtyvu

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@quigonzel: rogue one was better than force awakens. force awakens is a weaker version of new hope

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PointingMonkey

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Yeah, and Benedict Cumberbatch wasn't playing Khan, hey Jar Jar? At this point I would be surprised if he could even spell 'original idea', let alone create one.

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lionheartssj1

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@pointingmonkey: Oh man, that was one of the least-earned plots ever.

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masscrack

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Edited By masscrack

Why bring jar jar abrams back.. damn he almost single handedly destroyed star wars.

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MJ12-Conspiracy

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@masscrack: he had help, what killed it though was destroying extended universe.....

it's kinda like what marvel comics is doing, not running Fantastic 4 and trying to position the inhumans in X-Men's spot not to mention everything else they're doing.....

but with SW it was the books that did more for it than the movies, Timothy Zahn's Thrawn series?? he's a non force user imperial commander who had the respect of his men and created a loyal crew cus he valued their input and his genius had the alliance on the ropes cus he was a master tactician, in roughly a year of SW time Thrawn pretty much had the rebels beat just using military tactics, something that moron sith lord emperor could never do.....it's hard to respect the emperor when a non force user upstages em and uses their head.....also Thrawn commanded a intedictor ship, a ship that could rip other ships out of hyperspace and prevent a jump to hyperspeed....he used smaller destroyers and felt like the supers were overkill and wasteful and too expensive, think about that, he had a large fleet of ships where the largest size was the victory class and his interdictor was smaller than the victory lolz that should speak volumes about how different and interesting a commander he was....

Thrawn was the bad guy but of all the villains I've seen in anything I respect Thrawn the most cus he did things logically and wasn't sadistic or evil....

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Alex4789123

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Edited By Alex4789123

@MJ12-Conspiracy You know Thrawn is cannon again and they have a new Thrawn book written by Zahn right?

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MJ12-Conspiracy

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@Alex4789123: it's not the same......SW won't be the same again is the whole point, they ruined it.....

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Alex4789123

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@MJ12-Conspiracy I bet you haven't even read it. Anyway the retcon was completely necessary in order to make more films. You cant have writers creative freedom restricted to fit in with the old cannon, they would be awful and nearly impossible to make.

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Gary_Stanton

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Edited By Gary_Stanton

"As he works on the movie's script, along with co-writer Chris Terrio (Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice)"

Really? That doesn't bode well.

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PointingMonkey

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@Gary_Stanton: He only did rewrites on Batman v Superman. He fully wrote Argo, not that really matters, his hands will be tied behind his back by Kennedy, so nothing creative will be allowed.

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Soulwarfare42

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Edited By Soulwarfare42

@Gary_Stanton: Rey: Anakin...

Kylo: ANAKIN!!! WHY YOU SAY THAT NAME?

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MJ12-Conspiracy

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@Soulwarfare42: Luke: it's her great uncle's name.....

Kylo: maybe i should kill both of you?

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Louis

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I think JJ is reacting to the "concern" of fans that he's just a rehasher.

First, what he needs to do is focus and finish the story of this current trilogy. Yes, he should work on originality in completing that goal. So, new planets, interesting characters, etc... heck even Lucas did that with the much "hated" prequels.

As to continuing stories in the universe, yes of course Disney will work on the next trilogy/standalone films. But when that time comes if they wish they'll invite him back to discuss that. But I don't want him getting ahead of himself. Finish this story!

What he might do... Drop a hit at the end of episode 9 of what comes next? I wouldn't put that past them. Not a bad thing if done right. Though it sorta ties the hands of those that come in next.

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gamingdevil800

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@Louis: George Lucas is the ideas guy, its actually sad that Disney didn't keep him on for some input/ideas. The prequels downfall were that George wrote and directed them all himself. Its fun watching on YouTube the creation of Darth Maul & General Grevious etc seeing George pick out his favourite concepts from the art team.

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Louis

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@gamingdevil800: I had read that Lucas' idea for this current trilogy would have again centered around youngsters (children/teens?) and with the fan backlash of the very young Anakin of the prequels that Disney decided against that route.

Personally I agree with that. Enough with the kids.

I agree with you, he did have some great ideas that led to Maul and Grevious. Plus, I loved the various locations he dreamed up. The Force Awakens was boring on that note.

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gamingdevil800

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@Louis: He probably wanted to focus on Han and Lukes Children which the new trilogy is sort of doing???

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locke90

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@gamingdevil800: han and leias children are jacen jaina and anakin not this bs.

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Alex4789123

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@locke90 Ugh get over it already

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locke90

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@Alex4789123: get over it get over it get over it get over it is that all you can come up with ? how old are you Ill bet you have never read a single star wars novel in your life maybe im sick of things being removed and or retconned because new owners want to shit all over the lore and not be original or weave a story that acknowledges the contributions of the authors that were given the go ahead in the past to expand that lore now run along and play in traffic kid.

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Alex4789123

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@locke90 U mad bro? But like i said to another user the retcon had to happen for them to make more films. I'd rather them do what they did and have more films than not make more just to keep the EU intact. A lot of the old EU was garbage anyway.

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V8P

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Hopefully Daisy Ridley (Rey) cured her open mouth syndrome and at least get on Tommy Wiseau's level this time around.

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deactivated-5e83c14458072

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@v8p: FTL avatar. Have a like.

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V8P

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@Arkhalipso: thx, edited in MS Paint. Proud on myself.

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Acillatem1993

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NO NO NO. I literally just arrived here from youtube, watching reviews of Force awakens and listening and reading about how JJ pretty much took a big dump on the Star Wars franchise, nodding at the screen in agreement and looking forward to new movies being directed by people other than Abrams...and then I come to gamespot and see this...god damnit man.

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MJ12-Conspiracy

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at this point i'd rather see a Mass Effect movie over Star Wars......

Mass Effect: First Contact

the first contact war

Mass Effect: The Traverse

the blitz and how humanity established themselves in the traverse

Mass Effect: Renegade

after the first contact war, jack Harper leaves the alliance and creates a new identity and founds Cerberus, Harper exits the spotlight and is never heard from again but rumors of an "Illusive Man" begin to surface, this would be the basis for some of those stories.....

i'd give these a go.....mass effect is already kinda ruined, movies can't ruin it any more right?? let's get these things made yo.....

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Joupena

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@MJ12-Conspiracy: As long as they never make a ME movie about the games' plots, I'm all for it. Hell, would gladly write the script for one of those flicks myself, if it means that it would have the touch of an actual fan of the games, instead of Hollywood eggheads who have never played any games in their lives, and only see dollar signs in their heads..

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chopsbenedict

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If my work was of the quality of the writing in Superman V Batman, Id be fired. That plus mr splosions is continuing down the road to a ruined franchise

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gamingdevil800

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We can only pray that Jar Jar Abrams doesn't rehash old ideas from Return Of The Jedi...

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skipper847

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@gamingdevil800: Only with added lens flare.

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