Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night, where he gave an update on the status of Star Wars: Episode IX. "We have a script," he said, "which is a big deal for me." Abrams also confirmed for Colbert that shooting will begin this July.

Abrams co-wrote the script with screenwriter Chris Terrio, best known for writing 2012's well-received Argo and 2016's far-less-well-received Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Abrams himself began his time in the film industry as a screenwriter; Colbert jokingly introduced him as "best known as the co-writer of the 1997 Joe Pesci and Danny Glover blockbuster comedy Gone Fishin'" rather than as the co-creator or executive producer of Lost, Westworld, and Alias or as the steward at various times of such mega-franchises as Star Wars, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible.

Despite that background, Abrams said having a script at this point was not a foregone conclusion. "Having a script in advance is something we haven't always been lucky enough to have," he said. Having one is certainly preferable: film productions like Episode IX must adhere to very tight schedules in order to stay on budget, and even small changes can throw the shooting order out of whack.

That said, a finished shooting script isn't actually always final. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was heavily rewritten and even partially reshot after an initial cut of the film was produced. Directors, studios, and producers prefer to avoid that eventuality, though, because it drives up the cost of production if scenes need to be reshot.

But Star Wars is so important to Disney that it has so far been willing to throw a wrench in the works—like reshooting Rogue One or firing Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow from Episode IX before handing it to Abrams—if its executives felt that would be better for the franchise in the long run.

Episode IX is due for release in December of 2019. In the interim, Disney will release Solo: A Star Wars Story—a prequel centered on Han Solo that a lot of people wish was focused on Donald Glover's Lando Calrissian instead—on Memorial Day this year. The trailer for that film debuted during Super Bowl LII last month.