J.J. Abrams Regrets Not Directing the Next Star Wars Films

There will be Star Wars films for the remainder of our mortal lives. Disney has made sure of this after the not-so-surprising success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The movie was directed by a man named J.J. Abrams, who took the script from Star Wars: A New Hope, made some minor tweaks and modern adjustments, and bathed in the money and praise it brought him. That Episode VII was essentially a modernized version of the 1977 original was of no concern to the millions of people who spent a grand total of $2 billion to see it in theaters. That was also of no concern to anyone who profited off this film—Abrams included!

So it's curious that after all of this Abrams decided not to direct the future Star Wars films, insuring financial stability of his family line for many generations. Instead, Abrams chose to return to filming personal projects, which will hopefully result in the next Lost or Alias.

But is Abrams bummed to have stepped away from a franchise that is worth the money and fame that any director—or human, for that matter—would dream of?

"I'd be lying if I said there weren't pangs of regret," Abrams told Variety. "Particularly when I realize I won't get to say 'Action!' to Daisy Ridley, or get to work with Mark Hamill in a scene where he gets to speak."

Sad!

But here's the good news: Instead of using Abrams to direct another goddamn beloved franchise, Lucasfilm is hoping to find a woman to direct a future Star Wars movie:

    [Producer Kathleen] Kennedy says that because there haven't been many opportunities for women to direct big movies, the Lucasfilm team is trying to identify talented helmers at the early stages of their careers. "We want to really start to focus in on people we would love to work with and see what kinds of things they're doing to progress up that ladder now, and then pull them in when the time is right."

Until then we can look forward to the next four years of Star Wars films which will include Rogue One, Episode VIII, and the still-untitled young Han Solo film.