J.J. Abrams Takes On 'Star Wars'

For decades, Star Trek and Star Wars defined a certain brand of nerdy fandom largely because they were so different. But on Jan. 25, Disney announced that J.J. Abrams — the Comic-Con demigod behind 2009’s Star Trek reboot and this summer’s follow-up, Into Darkness — will direct Star Wars: Episode VII. It’s welcome news for Star Wars fans still bruised from the lifeless prequel trilogy. Abrams’ Trek injected new energy (and some non-canon romance) into a franchise that was drowning in old tropes. Then again, Abrams saved Star Trek by essentially transforming it into Star Wars. What’s left for an actual Abrams Star Wars movie? We won’t know for a while; Toy Story 3‘s Michael Arndt is working on the screenplay, and it’s loosely slated for a summer 2015 bow. Said Abrams in a statement: ”I may be even more grateful to George Lucas now than I was as a kid.”