UPDATE: Lucasfilm confirms that none of this is true.
Badass Digest and Collider are reporting that they’ve heard from “multiple sources” that Abrams looks as though he’s dropping out of Episode VII.
From Badass Digest:
I know that he didn’t want to shoot the movie in England and was overruled, but that happened a while ago. This weekend at Comic Con I continued to hear these whispers. No director for Trek 3 has been found yet – might Abrams end up coming back after all, leaving Star Wars to someone else? I’m expecting Star Wars news out of the German Star Wars Celebration at the end of the month – if there is some sort of announcement of a title or casting and Abrams isn’t there, start wondering.
I’m not sure where I come down on this one. Sure, it’s likely he’s not got the clout on this movie that he’s had in the past and might want to leave. But this is Star Wars. This would be a significant hit for Bad Robot to welch on a deal that’s already been signed, too. And for Abram to accept it so publicly, and to be such a large Star Wars fanboy, and then to drop out this close to shooting? There’d have to be much more at play there.
The reason Collider gives for him not wanting to shoot in England is that he doesn’t want to be away from his family. That’s a bit of a stretch, in my opinion. He can take his family with him at the drop of a hat. And it seems like he’d be excited to get back to the roots of Star Wars.
I will agree, though. If news about Abrams is light coming out of Germany at this week’s Star Wars Celebration: Europe, then worry. Until then, toss this into the trash bin marked “rumours.”
For the most up to date in Star Wars rumours and discussion, be sure to listen to the Full of Sith podcast.
CORRECTION: The original version of this story made mention of a picture tweeted by the Bad Robot twitter account as possibly being the script for Episode VII. Sources have informed TheForce.Net that this is indeed NOT the screenplay.