Addendum - I neglected to note earlier, the movie was delayed to December 2019.  Previously, it was late May 2019.  Unless the Han Solo movie gets delayed as well - and I can't assume it won't - it would be the only Disney-era movie to be released in May so far.

In what can only be called a safe choice, StarWars.com posted the article J.J. Abrams to Write and Direct Star Wars: Episode IX.   Colin Trevorrow was recently ousted from the film, one of at least four projects encountering significant upheaval in the Star Wars universe over the last decade.   Surely there's a non-disclosure agreement keeping us from knowing the full details of what happened here - or Josh Trank's movie, or Star Wars Detours, or the Han Solo film which is supposedly coming out in 8 months and has no name or no trailer - but I look forward to eventually hearing the full story on this tumultuous era of Star Wars.

All lens flare diatribes aside, J.J. Abrams seems like the best choice to helm and direct the sequel trilogy. If you think about it, the Star Trek reboot in terms of tone, dialogue, pace, and atmosphere, was closer to a classic Star Wars film. You can easily see the same dynamic between Kirk, Spock, and Uhura as you would with Luke, Han, and Leia.