Following No-Show at Star Wars Celebration, Josh Trank Quits Spin-off Movie [UPDATED]

UPDATE: Chronicle screenwriter Max Landis’ recent Tweets seem related.

karma

— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) May 1, 2015

.@Orephiuchus Karma is an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.

— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) May 1, 2015

One of Star Wars Celebration’s more notable disappointments was that at the panel to announce more news about the Star Wars Anthology spin-offs, only Gareth Edwards showed up as announced. Fantastic 4/Chronicle director Josh Trank, whom we presumed would have told us something about his project, wasn’t there. Not only that, but we weren’t told anything about his movie, either.

The official reason? He was sick. But if the plan was to tell us something about his movie, why didn’t Kathleen Kennedy just go ahead and do that herself? Rumors of trouble brewed, and now they seem to be vindicated: Trank is off the project.

Via The Wrap, his very diplomatically phrased statement on the parting is below.

After a year of having the incredible honor of developing with the wonderful and talented people at Lucasfilm, I’m making a personal decision to move forward on a different path…I’ve put a tremendous amount of thought into this, and I know deep down in my heart that I want to pursue some original creative opportunities. That said, the Star Wars universe has always been one of my biggest influences, and I couldn’t be more excited to witness its future alongside my millions of fellow Star Wars fans. I want to thank my friends Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart, Simon Kinberg, and everyone at Lucasfilm and Disney for the amazing opportunity to have been a part of this. May the Force be with you all.