J.J. Abrams Comments on Whether He’d Return to Star Wars

After bringing the Star Wars franchise back to the spotlight in 2015 with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams returned send the Skywalker Saga through the finish line. Colin Trevorrow was originally slated to direct the ninth and final installment in the ongoing story, but he and Lucasfilm parted ways ahead of production. That left the director’s chair for Episode IX wide open, and Kathleen Kennedy turned to a familiar face to fill the void, replacing Trevorrow with Abrams to close out the latest trilogy.

Abrams joins Star Wars creator George Lucas as the only director to helm more than one film in the franchise, and it’s safe to say he’s put quite a lot of work into the Skywalker Saga over the last decade. Would he be down to do more in the future? That remains to be seen, but Abrams isn’t quite ready to talk about that yet.

This week, Abrams sat down with Esquire to talk about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which hits theaters in December. At the end of the interview, Abrams was asked if he would return to the franchise sometime down the road. He made it clear that, having just finished The Rise of Skywalker one day prior, he is ready to step away for a while.

“I just yesterday finished this thing,” Abrams said. “So it’s a bit like asking someone at the end of a meal at French Laundry, you know, if they want to get a burger. It’s like, you know, I’m sure that one day having a burger would be the greatest idea in the history of time, but in this moment I’m full.”

That makes sense, considering just how much time Abrams has spent with the Star Wars franchise over the last few years. It’s also worth noting that the filmmaker recently signed a massive first-look contract with Warner Bros. He’s going to have his hands full with quite a few other projects in the near future, so there likely won’t be time for another Star Wars project, even if he wanted to do one.

Do you think J.J. Abrams will return to Star Wars at some point down the road? Are you looking forward to seeing what he does with The Rise of Skywalker? Let us know in the comments!

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20th.