What do you do when you have director problems on a massive project? You go back to what you know. Welcome J.J. Abrams back to the Star Wars Universe.

Following the departure of Colin Trevorrow from Star Wars Episode IX there was a massive scramble as to who would head up the project. Every name under the sun was tossed into the ring, but no one knew who it would go to. Some thought it would be Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, but he shot that down. With post-production still rolling, and a start date of January 2018 on the books, it would have been next to impossible.

Lucasfilm has officially named J.J. Abrams to the director duties. Seeing as The Force Awakens grossed over $2 billion globally, he seems like a safe bet to run this production.

“With The Force Awakens, J.J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy,” said Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy.

Abrams will co-write Episode IX with Chris Terrio.

The big question now is whether or not Lucasfilm will hold to the January 2018 start date for production. It makes sense to me to push it back to let Abrams get settled, but we’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out. With the release date being pushed back from May 2019 to Dec. 20, 2019, it would seem there will indeed be a delay to production.

The other question? This leaves the untitled Han Solo move as the only film not planned for a December release now. You have to think it’s going to move.