Kevin Smith Says ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ Is Fantastic, Made Him Cry

The last film in the Star Wars saga is still over a year away from premiering in theaters, but it’s already earning high praise from one super fan.

Kevin Smith revealed on GMA Day that he visited the set of Star Wars: Episode IX, admitting that he watched a scene being filmed that tugged on his heart strings.

“I’m a small-time director, but I was just on a big-time movie set,” Smith said. “I was just over in England and I visited J.J. Abrams on Star Wars, the new Star Wars movie.”

Smith addressed the secrecy surrounding the film, as he’s obviously not allowed to talk about anything he saw on the set.

“They make you sign so many nondisclosure agreements that if I said anything, somebody with a lightsaber would pop out and cut my hand off,” Smith added. “But I do want to say this… number one, J.J. is doing the lord’s work. This movie looks fantastic. It’s a year away, but man it looks fantastic. I wept on set because I saw somebody give a career best performance, somebody I’ve seen in these movies before. I rolled a tear, it was so darn powerful.

“Biggest set I’ve ever seen in my life. The dude’s not directing a movie, it’s like he’s directing a small country. The thing is so massive. I sat there for a week and watched two scenes get filmed. One of them was absolutely amazing. I heard plot details and stuff, movie is going to be fantastic.”

Details about Episode IX have been very scarce, but Smith is obviously a fan of the direction Abrams is taking the franchise in for the final installment in the Skywalker Saga.

There are rumors that fans will finally get their first look at the upcoming movie later this month, which would certainly continue Disney’s dominance of December as the year’s end as they’ve released a torrent of trailers over the last couple of months.

If fans do get to see the first footage of Star Wars: Episode IX, it will follow in the wake of trailers for Dumbo, Aladdin, The Lion King, Captain Marvel, and, potentially, Avengers 4.

If that rumor does pan out, fans won’t have to wait long, but it would break the precedent Disney has established for releasing footage of Star Wars movies.

Star Wars: Episode IX premieres in theaters in December 2019.