<P> The first installment, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was released in December 2015 in the U.S. It is directed by J.J. Abrams who co-wrote the screenplay with Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt . Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and other cast members from the original trilogy returned to reprise their roles and co-star alongside Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, and Oscar Isaac . </P> <P> Unlike the previous two trilogies, whose films were released approximately three years apart and released on Memorial Day weekend, the sequel films are planned to be released two years apart in December . Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released in December 2017, with Rian Johnson as screenwriter and director, and most of the cast returning . </P> <P> The first two films have grossed a combined $3.36 billion worldwide and were both well - received by critics . The third and final installment, Episode IX, was to be directed by Colin Trevorrow, but he was replaced in September 2017 by Abrams, who is to co-write it with Chris Terrio . The film is scheduled to be released in December 2019 . </P> <P> According to Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker, in 1976, Star Wars creator George Lucas told him that he planned three Star Wars trilogies . Lucas suggested Hamill could have a cameo role in Episode IX, which he imagined filming by 2011 . A Time magazine story in March 1978, quoting Lucas, stated there would be ten Star Wars films after The Empire Strikes Back . Gary Kurtz was also aware of proposed story elements for Episode VII to Episode IX before 1980 . In 1980, at the time of the release of The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas said there were seven further Star Wars films he wanted to make . He said he had "twelve - page outlines" for those films . In an interview with Jim Steranko in Prevue magazine published in late 1980, Lucas described how the expansive scope of Star Wars had started with an overlong screenplay: </P>

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