Josh Trank won’t go to a galaxy far, far away with the second Star Wars Anthology film

Following his absence at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim last month, and amidst the speculation of his departure, it has been revealed that Chronicle and Fantastic Four filmmaker Josh Trank has indeed left the forthcoming Star Wars Anthology film.

In a joint statement released yesterday, Trank announced that he recently reached a decision to leave the highly-anticipated project stating "After a year of having the incredible honour of developing with the wonderful and talented people at Lucasfilm, I'm making a personal decision to move forward on a different path.

I've put a tremendous amount of thought into this, and I know deep down in my heart that I want to pursue some original creative opportunities.

That said, the Star Wars universe has always been one of my biggest influences, and I couldn't be more excited to witness its future alongside my millions of fellow Star Wars fans.

I want to thank my friends Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart, Simon Kinberg, and everyone at Lucasfilm and Disney for the amazing opportunity to have been a part of this. May the Force be with you all."

The first Anthology film entitled Rogue One will star Felicity Jones and Ben Mendelsohn in a story based around a heist of the Death Star, an the new series of Star Wars films will kick off with Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens on December 18 featuring the stellar cast of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Andy Serkis, Warwick Davis, Max von Sydow and Amybeth Hargreaves.

Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens | Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One

STAR WARS: EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS HIT CINEMAS ON DECEMBER 18 AND STAR WARS ANTHOLOGY: ROGUE ONE HITS CINEMAS ON DECEMBER 16 2016