‘The Last Jedi’ director Rian Johnson will create a brand new ‘Star Wars’ trilogy

With the debut of Star Wars: The Last Jedi just over a month away, Disney and Lucasfilm announced on Thursday that director Rian Johnson has been tapped to “create a brand new Star Wars trilogy.” Johnson is going to write and direct the first of the three films, with long-time collaborator Ram Bergman set to produce.

In a blog post on StarWars.com, Disney and Lucasfilm reiterate how proud they are of what Johnson was able to do with The Last Jedi. As for the new trilogy, it will be separate from the Skywalker saga, which will span nine films by the time J.J. Abrams’ Episode IX hits in 2019. Instead, “Johnson will introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored.” No further details were shared.

“We all loved working with Rian on The Last Jedi,” said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm. “He’s a creative force, and watching him craft The Last Jedi from start to finish was one of the great joys of my career. Rian will do amazing things with the blank canvas of this new trilogy.”

“We had the time of our lives collaborating with Lucasfilm and Disney on The Last Jedi,” Johnson and Bergman said in a joint statement. “Star Wars is the greatest modern mythology and we feel very lucky to have contributed to it. We can’t wait to continue with this new series of films.”

While Rogue One wasn’t quite the critical smash hit that The Force Awakens was, there is clearly a hunger among the Star Wars fan community for stories that reach beyond the families and characters that we’ve been following ever since Star Wars was released in 1977. If we’re going to be inundated with Star Wars adventures for years to come, some of them might as well explore characters, worlds and stories that are completely unfamiliar to us.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi will arrive in theaters on December 15th, 2017.