Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night, where he gave an update on the status of Star Wars: Episode IX. “We have a script,” he said, “which is a big deal for me.” Abrams also confirmed for Colbert that shooting will begin this July.
Abrams co-wrote the script with screenwriter Chris Terrio, best known for writing 2012’s well-received Argo and 2016’s far-less-well-received Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Abrams himself began his time in the film industry as a screenwriter; Colbert jokingly introduced him as “best known as the co-writer of the 1997 Joe Pesci and Danny Glover blockbuster comedy Gone Fishin’” rather than as the co-creator or executive producer of Lost, Westworld, and Alias or as the steward at various times of such mega-franchises as Star Wars, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible.