'Star Wars 7' News: Director J.J. Abrams Quits 2015's 'Episode VII'? Lucasfilm Denies Rumors Surrounding 2014 'Star Trek 3' Production & Script Updates

Yesterday, we reported on the rumors surrounding director J.J. Abrams leaving his Star Wars: Episode VII project in favor of the sequel to Star Trek Into Darkness. The original report stated: "Recent news surrounding the sequel to 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness has given rise to rumors surrounding J.J. Abrams' involvement in his previously confirmed role as director of Star Wars: Episode VII. To clarify, numerous reports are claiming that insiders revealed that Abrams could be exiting the Star Wars film in favor of directing Star Trek 3. This rumor has gained steam ever since the announcement that production for Star Wars would be in England and Abrams had a problem with it." But now we have an update that might make some fans happy.

Our original article detailed the factors that made this rumor plausible. J.J. originally complained about relocating his family to the United Kingdom for filming the new Star Wars film, saying it "really does make me insane."

Also, news about Star Trek 3 filming in 2014 was announced by star Zachary Quinto. This of course is odd considering Episode VII will also be filming in 2014, and when Quinto said Abrams would be directing the next Trek film people started getting nervous.

And then news surrounding J.J.'s Bad Robot production company reaching out to Thor and X-Men: First Class writers Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz to pen the Star Trek 3 script has thrown some fuel on this rumor's fire. This means that the third Star Trek film is most likely going to start production soon and that Abrams' involvement might change his Star Wars role.

We also tracked down the unnamed rumor-starter. Here is the writer's statement: "This has been something I've heard for a while now, and from multiple insiders. I know that he didn't want to shoot the movie in England and was overruled, but that happened a while ago. This weekend at Comic Con I continued to hear these whispers. No director for 'Trek 3' has been found yet-might Abrams end up coming back after all, leaving 'Star Wars' to someone else? I'm expecting Star Wars news out of the German Star Wars Celebration at the end of the month-if there is some sort of announcement of a title or casting and Abrams isn't there, start wondering."

Thankfully (depending which side of the spectrum you were on in this situation), Lucasfilm has made an official statement in regards to this rumor:

"There is no truth to the rumor. J.J. is having a great time working on the script and is looking forward to going into production next year." 

So there you have it. Abrams might not have made the statement, but Lucasfilm is the next best thing as a legitimate source.

Now we can focus on casting rumors!