Nadat Walt Disney bekendmaakte dat ze werk gaan maken van een reeks nieuwe Star Wars films, werd er bijna direct gespeculeerd over welke regisseur Star Wars: Episode VII moet gaan regisseren. Namen die worden geopperd zijn voor de hand liggende namen als Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, J.J. Abrams, Peter Jackson en Joss Whedon. Ook namen als Catherine Hardwicke, Sam Mendes, Guillermo del Toro, Duncan Jones en Rian Johnson werden genoemd. Volgens de laatste geruchten zou het echter Matthew Vaughn (X-Men First Class) in gesprek zijn met Walt Disney. Volgens Collider zou dit zelfs de reden zijn waarom Vaughn de sequel "The Star Wars franchise is nothing short of a generational touchstone…I literally can’t think of any comparable cultural phenom that has so pervasively shaped and galvanized viewers to the extent that Star Wars has. It’s embedded in my — and our — cultural DNA in a unique way and these are enduring strands." [/i]

Kevin Smith: "Lots of folks asking what I think about the recent announcement that Disney is now the proud owned of the STAR WARS universe. I'm all for it. Can't wait to see all the new movies they're gonna make. The 7 year old Kev who saw STAR WARS during its initial release in 1977 is finally gonna get all 9 STAR WARS movies he was promised back then. I'll be first in line to pay for whatever they do."

Robert Rodriguez: "What an amazing world and legacy George Lucas has created — and it needs to continue in capable hands. I do think Disney is the best studio for the job and the fact that they brought in Kathleen Kennedy? I can’t imagine a better scenario. And 2015 can’t get here fast enough."

Ook acteur Mark Hamill, die in de originele trilogie de rol speelde van Luke Skywalker liet e.e.a. weten aan Entertainment Weekly. Hij wist bijvoorbeeld al van de vroege plannen om een nieuwe trilogie te maken: "Yeah, last August, he asked Carrie (Fisher) and I to have lunch with him and we did. I thought he was going to talk about either his retirement or the Star Wars TV series that I’ve heard about—which I don’t think we were going to be involved in anyway, because that takes place between the prequels and the ones we were in and, if Luke were in them, he’d be anywhere from a toddler to a teenager so they’d get an age-appropriate actor—or the 3-D releases. So when he said, “We decided we’re going to do Episodes VII, VIII, and IX,” I was just gobsmacked. “What? Are you nuts?!” [laughs] I can see both sides of it. Because in a way, there was a beginning, a middle, and an end and we all lived happily ever after and that’s the way it should be—and it’s great that people have fond memories, if they do have fond memories. But on the other hand, there’s this ravenous desire on the part of the true believers to have more and more and more material. It’s one of those things: people either just don’t care for it or are passionate about it. I guess that defines what cult movies are all about. We’ll see. I’m anxious to know what’s going on, but the main story [yesterday] was the sale to Disney. I have mixed feelings about that, but they haven’t done badly by Marvel and the Muppets and Pixar. It’s one of those big decisions that at first seems unusual but then the more you look at it, the more it makes sense.

George Lucas kon zich niet inhouden en had ook nog iets te melden: "It's 40 years of work and it’s been my life, but I’m ready to move on to bigger and better things." Hij gaat kleinere films maken: "Mostly it will be philanthropy but I’m also going to make my own little personal films. I barely got Red Tails into the theaters. The ones I’m working on now will never get into the theaters."

Star Wars: Episode VII moet 17 juli 2015 in de bioscoop verschijnen.