The Star Wars directors sure do have each other's backs. As previously reported, Star Wars IX starts shooting in January 2018, with the studio announcing a May 24, 2019 release date. As director Colin Trevorrow continues to prep for the movie, he has also been promoting his new film The Book of Henry, which opened in limited release over the weekend. During a recent interview, the filmmaker was asked if he had any special requests for Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson as he was getting ready for Star Wars: Episode IX. As it turns out, Trevorrow did have one request for the Star Wars 8 filmmaker.

Colin Trevorrow appeared on the MTV Happy Sad Confused podcast while promoting The Book of Henry, where he was asked about a situation regarding his Star Wars director peers, J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson. It was previously noted that Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson had asked J.J. Abrams to make a minor change to The Force Awakens, hoping the director would swap BB-8 for R2-D2 when Rey (Daisy Ridley) journeys to Ahch-To to meet Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). When asked if Trevorrow had a similar request of Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, Colin had this to say.

"There was one little thing. It wasn't an adjustment, it was just 'Could you shoot this one extra thing while you're in this place on this day?' And he did, which was great. But, you know, it's part of the collaborative process that exists, everyone is in communication. There's such a genuine want to get this right from everybody, and I think that one of the misconceptions is that there's some kind of great corporate overlord that is dictating this story to everybody, and that's what it's going to be because that's going to sell the most toys. The reality of it is that it's a small group of people, but it's actually, you know, kind of large when you think about it, and none of them are corporate, all of them are creatives and all of them are genuinely, very sincerely, wanting to do the work of their lives in order to realize this."

Why Rian Johnson wanted J.J. Abrams to add R2-D2 into The Force Awakens ending isn't yet clear, but there is a specific purpose for R2-D2 on the island of Ahch-To with Luke Skywalker and Rey. We do know that Star Wars: The Last Jedi will start exactly where Star Wars: The Force Awakens ends, with Rey handing Luke Skywalker his lightsaber. Although there is very little known about the story. There have been reports that Rey will begin her Jedi training with Luke Skywalker, and we've seen in the first trailer that Rey is training with a lightsaber on the Ahch-to cliffs.

There still hasn't been any confirmation when the next trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be released, but it's possible that we may see it at Comic-Con 2017 next month, or even a week earlier at D23. Director Rian Johnson revealed in an interview last month that Star Wars 8 wasn't completely mapped out when he signed on to direct, and it seems likely that Star Wars 9 wasn't fully mapped out either when Colin Trevorrow. With six months left until production begins, it remains to be seen when we'll find out about new cast members coming on board.