Star Wars: Episode IX - 9 Reasons JJ Abrams Is The Right Choice To Direct

8. He's A Hardcore Star Wars Fan

jj abrams
© PAUL HACKETT/Reuters/Corbis

The fact that Abrams absolutely adores Star Wars will ensure that his passion for Episode IX is firmly in place.

Over the years he's told various stories about his love for the series, including the fact that the original trilogy influenced him at every stage of his career - even when writing episodes for shows like Lost and Alias.

Having a fan at the helm could be dangerous - there is such a thing as pandering, and too much fan-service - but with Episode VII, Abrams proved that wasn't the case with him.

His Star Wars movie was packed full of references to the other movies (holochess ftw) but they never felt overbearing or groan-inducing, and his love for the series didn't overpower the new characters the movie needed to explore.

The fact that he loves Star Wars is only a good thing. Having passion for the subject matter only means more care and attention will be put into making the movie as good as it can possibly be.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!