Josh Trank will direct a Star Wars spin-off

Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

Josh Trank will direct a Star Wars spin-off
(Image credit: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)

The galaxy far, far away just got a little bigger. In an official announcement on StarWars.com, Lucasfilm revealed that Josh Trank — the director behind the found-footage movie Chronicle and the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot — will helm a stand-alone movie set in the Star Wars universe.

In a statement, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy praised Trank as "perfectly suited to Star Wars." "The magic of the Star Wars Universe defined my entire childhood," said Trank. "The opportunity to expand on that experience for future generations is the most incredible dream of all time."

Trank is the second director to land a Star Wars spin-off, after Godzilla director Gareth Edwards, whose as-yet untitled Star Wars project is scheduled for release in 2016. Lucasfilm hasn't announced the plots of the stand-alone movies, but the studio has long been rumored to be interested in one-off "origin story films" based on popular characters like Han Solo and Boba Fett.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More

Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.