As of this writing, Star Wars 9 hits theaters in one year. The countdown is on as fans try and figure out what J.J. Abrams is going to do with the last installment in the Force Awakens trilogy and the Skywalker saga as a whole. To say that there is some pressure on the director would be putting it pretty lightly, especially considering that the backlash from last year's The Last Jedi is still raging pretty hard amongst certain hardcore Star Wars fans.
J.J. Abrams and crew have less than a year to wrap principal photography, conduct reshoots (if needed}, and finish up all of the post-production. A year may sound like a long time for Star Wars fans, but it's really not that long of a wait when one thinks of all of the work that still needs to go into making the movie. Plus, the wait has been rumored to get a little better with the release of the Star Wars 9 trailer, possibly before the end of this year.
It should be noted that nobody from Lucasfilm nor Disney has confirmed that the Star Wars 9 trailer is going to drop before the end of the year. However, Disney has been releasing some pretty huge trailers and promotional material in the last month or so. Thanksgiving saw the highly anticipated trailer for the live-action adaptation of The Lion King, and there are many who believe that Christmas day could be when we get our first look at what J.J. Abrams has been working on. Jordan Peele's Us trailer is confirmed for Christmas, which could get overshadowed pretty quickly if Disney and Lucasfilm decide to give fans a present.
Mark Hamill recently revealed that he did about a week of work on Star Wars 9 and was preparing to go back and finish up, though he did not reveal when. We still don't even know how Luke Skywalker will be back in the movie, but the common theory amongst fans is that he'll be a Force Ghost, or that he will be shown in flashbacks. Anything other than that is a mystery for now in regard to Skywalker. But, a Luke Force Ghost would be pretty awesome.
Rian Johnson posted a thank you letter on social media to Star Wars fans last week to celebrate the one-year anniversary of The Last Jedi, which instantly turned into a battleground. The wounds are still pretty fresh for fans who had major problems with the movie, and those fans are looking to J.J. Abrams to correct everything that was perceived to be wrong. Again, that's a lot of pressure for the director and he'll probably be relieved when he's able to walk away from the franchise. You can check out the Star Wars 9 countdown announcement below, thanks to the Wookieepedia Twitter account.