Star Wars fans looking for more of their favorite franchise have just been given a new hope.
Rian Johnson, the director behind Star Wars: The Last Jedi, will create a brand-new Star Wars trilogy, Lucasfilm announced on Thursday.
The new set of movies will be “separate from the episodic Skywalker saga,” according to Lucasfilm, and will add new characters from a part of the galaxy not previously explored in Star Wars.
Johnson will write and direct the first film in the new trilogy, and Ram Bergman will produce. Meanwhile, Lucasfilm previously announced that The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams will helm 2019’s Episode IX.
“We all loved working with Rian on The Last Jedi,” Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, said in a statement. “He’s a creative force, and watching him craft The Last Jedi from start to finish was one of the great joys of my career. Rian will do amazing things with the blank canvas of this new trilogy.”
The Last Jedi is set for release Dec. 15, so once that film is wrapped up, Johnson will likely have time to turn his attention to the new trilogy.
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Write to Abigail Abrams at abigail.abrams@time.com