It's crazy to think that Colin Trevorrow was almost the one in JJ's position left with the responsibility of tying it all together with no planning for how that would happen or what they were even trying to build to.
In that sense, JJ may be a step up, but he's still probably not the right person for the job. I mean, at least he had some ideas he had thought about for Episode 7, but he thought about them with no intention of where they'd conclude because that wasn't his job, nor Johnson's job with 8. And now JJ is brought back in after Trevorrow was fired, which was still pretty late in the process (even if it was before they started filming), but Abrams is saying here that nothing was really done with that early time when Trevorrow was on the project. They are bringing Abrams on with no time to iterate or work on versions of a new story, because Abrams and Terrio basically have to start from scratch and nail it in the first go since they were crunched for time in having to start production and filming in a set time frame.
They could technically pull off a miracle here, but the odds seems so stacked against this getting the best shot it could get for what it's trying to do. I'm shocked that even with the shake ups on 9 and Solo that there were no delays. Just the reshoots on Rogue One should have been a sign that maybe the strict deadline of one Star Wars film a year might not be something they were ready to pull off. We've seen other studios struggle under those expectations of cranking out movies for their franchises and setting dates and sequel expectations without the work being done behind the scenes to make sure people are all on the same page before they confirm a date, confirm what film they are doing, and start hiring people to make that film. Rogue One and Solo seem like they had the most ideas thrown around before hand and they still hit major struggles, which just seems like it shouldn't have happened. How do you have a vision for a Solo movie for years and then hire on Lord and Miller who seemingly had a vision completely at odds with that original vision and you don't realize there is something wrong until the movie is basically already filmed?
I just don't know what to think about Star Wars going forward. I'm already half checked out as a fan and part of that is because of the Star Wars fans, part of that is the movies themselves (which have been pretty hit or miss for me at the end of the day, even if I can generally say I've enjoyed them all in some way), but I just don't have a lot of faith in their vision or goals of this franchise. I just can't understand it or get behind it.