During Star Wars Celebration, Star Wars: Rogue One director Gareth Edwards took to the stage to address the legions of assembled fans. Know who else was supposed to be there? Fantastic Four director Josh Trank, who has been attached to the second Star Wars standalone film for months. His absence didn't go unnoticed and the rumors have been going around ever since that something was up, and now we know what that was. Trank has released a statement announcing his departure from the Star Wars Anthology film.
“After a year of having the incredible honor of developing with the wonderful and talented people at Lucasfilm, I’m making a personal decision to move forward on a different path. I’ve put a tremendous amount of thought into this, and I know deep down in my heart that I want to pursue some original creative opportunities. That said, the Star Wars universe has always been one of my biggest influences, and I couldn’t be more excited to witness its future alongside my millions of fellow Star Wars fans. I want to thank my friends Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart, Simon Kinberg, and everyone at Lucasfilm and Disney for the amazing opportunity to have been a part of this. May the Force be with you all.”
We never really knew much about the film to begin with, so speculating on the full reasons for Trank's departure would be pointless. However, THR has given a reason and it doesn't paint Trank in the best light...
"Rumors have persisted that Fox is unhappy with Trank's performance on Fantastic Four and that Kinberg, who is producing both that film and the second Star Wars spinoff, was getting cold feet about working with Trank again."
Oi vei.
This won't stop Lucasfilm from moving forward on it, but a new director will have to be found first. Trank's Fantastic Four hits theaters on August 7th, and presumably from there he'll tackle something new.
