Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about some of the criticism about Episode VII being a rehash or rip-off of Star Wars: A New Hope. He also had a bit to say on why he won’t be directing Episode VIII:

“I can understand that someone might say, ‘Oh, it’s a complete rip-off!’ ” he says, adding, “What was important for me was introducing brand new characters using relationships that were embracing the history that we know to tell a story that is new — to go backwards to go forwards.”

“I realized when I was working on [The Force Awakens], the amount of energy that was required to tell the story, and do it justice, knowing when Episode VIII would start shooting, there was no way — if I wanted to still have my children talk to me in my old age — that doing that would make any sense,”

Knowing that Abrams is such a family man and that his kids are still young, I’m not surprised at all that he stepped away from the director’s chair for Episode VIII. Abrams is staying on as Executive Producer for VIII so if you really like what he did with The Force Awakens, that’s good. Abrams also notes that he and Lawrence Kasdan shared a lot of ideas they had with Episode VIII director Rian Johnson. Head over to The Hollywood Reporter for the full story.

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