Star Wars Fan Launches Petition to Bring George Lucas Back for Episode IX

JJ Abrams may have turned Star Wars: The Force Awakens into one of the biggest films ever made, but some fans are keen to see franchise creator George Lucas return to the director's chair one last time. An online petition has been created, calling for Lucas to direct Star Wars Episode IX.

Yuri Luiz, from São Paolo, Brazil, is hoping persuade bosses at Lucasfilm to replace Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow with Lucas for the final part of the new trilogy, which is due in 2019.

"We have no problem with Colin Trevorrow, but he's not the right guy to direct Star Wars Episode IX," Luiz writes on the Change.org page. "George Lucas as director of Episode IX would be the perfect way to end this new trilogy and make an epic farewell between the father of Star Wars and the whole universe of the galaxy far, far away..."

At the time of writing, the petition has attracted 4,814 signatures.

In 2012, Lucasfilm was sold to Disney, who paid around $4 billion for the company. The studio subsequently announced that they would deliver a new Star Wars movie every year, interspersing the ongoing Saga with one-off films focusing on different characters in the Star Wars universe. The first of these, Gareth Edwards' Rogue One, will open in December this year.

In December, Lucas caused some controversy by suggesting that he wasn't exactly a fan of the direction that The Force Awakens had taken. "[Disney] wanted to do a retro movie," he told interviewer Charlie Rose. "I don't like that. Every movie, I worked very hard to make completely different, with different planets, with different spaceships, to make it new." He also described Disney as "white slavers."

Lucas subsequently clarified these comments, telling USA Today: "Disney is doing an incredible job of taking care of and expanding the franchise. I rarely go out with statements to clarify my feelings, but I feel it is important to make it clear that I am thrilled that Disney has the franchise and is moving it in such exciting directions in film, television, and the parks."