'That's Not True ... That's Impossible': Lucasfilm Denies Rumor JJ Abrams Is Quitting 'Star Wars: Episode VII'

Despite JJ Abrams' production company, Bad Robot, possibly tweeting a picture of a stack of Star Wars: Episode VII scripts a week or two ago, there's apparently been the rumor floating around that Abrams was going to drop out of directing the new Star Wars movie.

In an article about Thor writers Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz being brought on to write the sequel to Star Trek: Into Darkness, Badass Digest dropped the following nugget:

Speaking of losing jobs... why is it that I keep hearing tons of rumors that JJ Abrams is on the verge of dropping out of Star Wars? This has been something I've heard for a while now, and from multiple insiders. 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.

Of course, a rumor like this sent the Internet into a frenzy. It took a lot of denials and secret meetings to get Abrams to the point where he was directing Episode VII — would he actually walk away from the opportunity? Well, according to Lucasfilm, he's not. The company issued a brief statement to IGN late Tuesday, saying, "There is no truth to the rumor. J.J. is having a great time working on the script and is looking forward to going into production next year."

Badass Digest circled back after Lucasfilm's statement, clarifying that they "never said Abrams is leaving" and that they were "just saying that I have heard rumors from MANY sources that he's been considering/threatening it. Other web types have heard the same. We've all been hearing it for months."

Is the rumor that Abrams could drop out of Star Wars: Episode VII because he doesn't want to live in London for several months plausible? Yeah. Do I really believe that Abrams, a man who has admitted loving Star Wars more than any other pop culture franchise and was hesitant to take this job because of the reverence he has for the property going to bail on it? No. That would do an insane amount of damage to the future of Star Wars, and I don't think Abrams could allow himself to do that.