Colin Trevorrow was Lucasfilm's original pick to direct Star Wars Episode IX, but after news came out of Trevorrow's apparently difficult attitude, he was fired and replaced with J.J. Abrams. Apparently, a new rumor has come out that Trevorrow was removed because he wanted to make major changes to The Last Jedi, particularly Luke's death.
A Redditor by the username dasheight35 shares:
There were two key things Trevorrow wanted to be changed - and they were not minor. These two things have been known for a while around Disney. Firstly, he wanted Luke to still be alive in 9. He strongly disagreed with killing Luke off in 8 when he had just been re-introduced. Luke and Leia were to be a pivotal part of his script, with Leia's Force affinity revealed in a much more brother/sister way that was apparently going to be "beautiful and tragic". Mark Hamill loved it. "We were on the same page," as he's said about Trevorrow's storyline. However, Kennedy and Johnson wanted Luke dead - period. Second, he wanted Snoke to live, as his back story was to be more discussed. Fisher dying scuttled his original plan for the Leia Force affinity reveal, of course. But he still needed Luke alive for the story he wanted to tell to end the trilogy - more of a Luke handing off the baton to Rey and a Luke "walking off into the sunset" idea, in the last film - rather than Luke dying in 8. They refused. He argued. They fired him.
It's been famously known that Hamill didn't agree initially with how Rian Johnson treated Luke's character, but by the end of the day, he agreed that it was the best direction to go. Talking about Trevorrow's firing, Hamill said (via ComicBookMovie):
"I had discussions with Colin. I was very excited because we were on the same page in terms of where we wanted to go and how we wanted to see Luke in a way that we never seen him. Even in this current version. But I don't know what went on. I don't want to know because there is no upside to that story. I like all those people. I like Kathy, and I like Lawrence Kasdan and all the people involved in that decision, but sometimes ignorance is bliss. And they don't tell me anything."
We don't know how legit the Reddit news is, but by the sound of what Hamill said, Trevorrow probably wanted Skywalker to live as well. Though I would have loved to see Luke make it to the end, I thought that his sendoff in The Last Jedi was well-handled.
At the end of the day, I like how Johnson was able to subvert all expectations when it came to The Last Jedi. Sure some fans were pissed off, but now Episode IX is a totally open book that no one can predict the direction of. I'm just hoping J.J. Abrams takes more risks this time as compared to The Force Awakens.
Star Wars Episode IX comes out Dec. 20, 2019.
See Also: Star Wars Effects Supervisor Breaks Down Difference Between Rian Johnson and J.J. Abrams
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