"Star Wars" and Disney continue to have directorial issues. It began with the firing of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from the set of the standalone "Han Solo" project. The directors responsible for hits like "The LEGO Movie" and "21 Jump Street" were replaced by veteran director Ron Howard.

'Episode IX' loses its director

Earlier this month, "Star Wars: Episode Ix" director Colin Trevorrow parted ways with Lucasfilm and Disney. Trevorrow is responsible for 2015's second biggest domestic earner "Jurassic World." The only movie that grossed more in that year was "The Force Awakens."

2017 is shaping up to be a down year for Trevorrow.

His film "The Book of Henry" found little success financially or critically. Now without a major franchise to helm, Trevorrow appears down on his luck. His next film will be the sequel to "Jurassic World," entitled "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," which he penned but did not direct

J.J. Abrams steps in, gets flak

After a few days with "Episode IX" seemingly in flux, "The Force Awakens" director J.J. Abrams was brought in to remedy the production of the finale in the new "Star Wars" trilogy. With the announcement of this change, the internet, with its usual brand of inflammatory reactions, took aim at Abrams. This disquiet over Abrams returning to the franchise has resulted in a Change.org petition to remove him from the role.

Petitioner Matt Vela cites that the major reason why Abrams is wrong for the role is that his "vision for "Episode VII" resulted in a rehash of "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope." The fear from fans supporting this petition is that bringing Abrams back for "Episode IX" will result in a trilogy that is a "rip off" of the original trilogy.

Will Lucasfilm respond?

The short answer to this is: probably not. The petition is intended for Kathleen Kennedy, film producer and president of Lucasfilm. While she has likely heard of the outcry against Abrams, there is no reason for Kennedy to change course again after one director has already exited the project.

Financially speaking, Abrams is both the obvious and safest choice to direct another "Star Wars" film.

"The Force Awakens" is currently the highest grossing movie of all-time (domestically, not adjusted for inflation). It outsold its next best competition, "Avatar," by almost $200 million. If the numbers say anything, then there is no reason for Lucasfilm not to rehire Abrams.

At the end of the day, movie studios are businesses. They may care for the creative integrity of their products, but they also care about the bottom line. This is without mentioning the likelihood that removing Abrams from the project would only delay production and cause more internal headaches at Lucasfilm.

Abrams is the director of "Episode IX," and fans are just going to have to come to terms with that. All the same, Vela's petition has 2,852 supporters as of this writing.

"Star Wars: Episode IX" is slated to begin shooting in Summer 2018, with a release date in December 2019.
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