There’s a lot of pressure on J.J. Abrams as the Star Wars: The Force Awakens helmer returns to the galaxy far, far away to round out not only the Sequel Trilogy but the entire nine-film Skywalker Saga with this December’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

On top of that, Abrams also have the unenviable task of picking up the pieces after the most divisive entry in the entire franchise, Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi; however, according to the filmmaker, he never approached Episode IX with the intention of “repairing” the saga, even though he’d have went down a different route had he remained in the director’s chair for Episode VIII.

“I never found myself trying to repair anything,” said Abrams in an interview with Empire. “If I had done VIII, I would have done things differently, just as Rian would have done things differently if he had done VII. But having worked on [TV], I was accustomed to creating stories and characters that then were run by other people. If you’re willing to walk away from the thing that you created and you believe it’s in trustworthy hands, you have to accept that some of the decisions being made are not gonna be the same that you would make. And if you come back into it, you have to honor what’s been done.”

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Abrams has previously spoken about The Last Jedi, stating that it “didn’t really derail” his original vision for the Sequel Trilogy and that “the story that we’re telling, the story that we started to conceive when we did The Force Awakens, was allowed to continue.”

Whichever side of The Last Jedi fence you’re on, let’s hope Abrams does manage to bring everything together and deliver a satisfying conclusion to the Saga when The Rise of Skywalker opens in December.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is set for release on December 19th 2019 in the UK and December 20th 2019 in North America with J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) directing a cast that includes Star Wars veterans Daisy Ridley (Rey), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico), Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca), Billie Lourd (Lieutenant Connix), Greg Grunberg (Snap Wexley), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian) and Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa) as well as new additions Naomi Ackie (Lady Macbeth), Richard E. Grant (Logan), Dominic Monaghan (Lost), and Keri Russell (The Americans).