Skip to main content

J.J. Abrams trades phasers for lightsabers in directing Star Wars Episode VII

The more a film director denies that he’s making a Star Wars movie for Disney, the more likely it seems that they will in fact film people swinging lightsabers around on screen after all. Following the Jan. 15 report that Zack Snyder (300Man of Steel) will direct a Star Wars spinoff once he finishes with his current features comes word that none other than Mr. Star Trek himself, J.J. Abrams, will take control of the mainline series. Multiple Thursday reports claim that once Abrams wraps Star Trek: Into Darkness he’ll begin work on Star Wars Episode VII.

Deadline reported first on Thursday that Abrams would direct the film, working with the script penned by Michael Arndt. Arndt, writer of Toy Story 3 and Little Miss Sunshine, was the first person to be officially attached to the beginning of the next Star Wars trilogy. “It’s a done deal with J.J.,” said Deadline’s unnamed source. The Wrap also confirmed the story, claiming that its source said Disney and Lucasfilm had also been pursuing Argo director Ben Affleck.

Recommended Videos

The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit backed up the story on Twitter as well. “Confirmed: J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars Episode 7!” said Kit, “Sources say the negotiations quite down the road.”

J.J. Abrams was actually one of the very first directors rumored to be in the running for Star Wars Episode VII following the announcement that Disney had acquired Lucasfilm for over $4 billion. Abrams told Empire magazine in December, though, that while he talked with Lucasfilm, he was definitely not going to be doing the next Star Wars.

“There were the very early conversations [with Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy] and I quickly said that, because of my loyalty to Star Trek and also just being a fan, I wouldn’t even want to be involved in the next version of those things,” said Abrams, “I declined any involvement very early on. I’d rather be in the audience not knowing what was coming, rather than being involved in the minutiae of making them.”

Paramount Pictures and the newly rejuvenated Star Trek series will likely need to find a new steward going forward.

Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
How to transmog and hide gear in Avowed
A masked figure in Avowed. The mask looks like it's made of gold, it has glowing red eyes, and there's a hood over its head.

In older RPGs, you would have to sacrifice that armor set you love the look of for the newer one that had better stats. In Avowed, it isn't exactly a secret tip or trick that wearing the more powerful gear is important, but that doesn't mean you need to sacrifice fashion. If you're playing in third-person especially, you want to make sure your character looks cool while exploring and using your flashy skills. Transmog has become more common lately, and thankfully is present in Avowed so you can wear the most powerful armor while still appearing like your old favorite. Or, you can hide all your armor completely if you want. Here's how to do both.

Read more
How to turn off damage numbers in Avowed
A player fights a bear in Avowed

One of the simple tips and tricks RPGs rely on to show how powerful you are is to display your damage in numbers. Avowed does this for every attack and ability you use, meaning you will see a ton of numbers pop up during your adventure. While they can be helpful at times, enemies also have health bars to see how much damage you're doing so having those numbers pop up can be more distracting than anything else, especially in third-person. Thankfully the game lets you turn these off to get a slightly more grounded experience. Here's how to quickly toggle this setting off.

Read more
PlayStation might skip its standard summer showcase this year
Housemarque's newest IP, Saros.

Summer has always been the season of announcements for the latest and greatest in gaming, but Sony might skip its normal showcase in favor of a smaller State of Play. This would make it the second year in a row Sony has decided against a major show, as 2024 also saw a smaller conference than normal. The news comes from Jeff Grubb of Giant Bomb fame, who says that a decision has not yet been made.

"Internally it sounds like they're debating, and flopping between, maybe making this summer a full showcase versus another State of Play. But they are considering a showcase," Grubb said. "And if they have a showcase, that means they'll have a lot of stuff to talk about. And at that point, you would definitely expect to see Wolverine and a lot of other games that could come out next year."

Read more