J.J. Abrams is the new ‘Star Wars’ director

Disney

First Star Trek, now Star Wars, what’s next? Ice Pirates? After Disney bought Lucasfilm and announced that the Star Wars franchise was back open for business like a back-alley Tijuana prostitute, speculation has been flying in the filmosphere as to who would be directing the new films. I didn’t report on most of it because most of it was pretty stupid (Zack Snyder? Please.) but now it seems like we’ve got a pretty credible source saying that Lost creator J.J. Abrams is the man in the chair for Star Wars: Episode 7.

The Wrap claims to have an in with a source at Disney that says that the company has made their decision, and Abrams is it. The director was brought up in November as a possible choice alongside Brad Bird, but he commented that he wasn’t interested in the job. Naturally, that’s because he’s already heading up a huge sci-fi franchise with Star Trek: Into Darkness nearing release. But Disney is not the kind of company that takes no for an answer, and they apparently pursued him hard enough that he relented.

And really, how much of a sacrifice is that? Oh, you have to work on one of the most beloved film properties of all time. How horrible that must be for you. Even if he makes a totally lousy-ass movie, it’ll still be better than The Phantom Menace just because Jar-Jar Binks is officially dead. The script is already in process, written by Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3 scribe Michael Arndt, and it’s set to take place after the original trilogy, following the overarching narrative that George Lucas had planned. Disney wants to get the film in production right away for a 2015 release, so they’re going to have to work fast. What do you think? Can Abrams do the job?