It should go without saying that there’s a lot of pressure on J.J. Abrams these days. He’s been tasked with relaunching the Star Wars cinematic universe. His Star Wars: Episode VII is intended to be the first in a massive line of movies based on that galaxy far, far away. On October 24th, that pressure only intensified when it was announced that he and Lawrence Kasdan were effectively taking over writing duties from Academy Award-winning writer Michael Arndt. With a new script needing to be written, the word on the street was that Disney was adamant about keeping its projected “Summer 2015” release for the project- despite the creative shake-up.

Many began to wonder if the film would be terribly rushed and undercooked heading into principal photography. Abrams, himself, was said to be hoping for a change in the release schedule and, weeks later, he got his wish. Disney shifted Episode VII from summer to December 18, 2015. It may not seem like much, but those six months will surely help. Abrams confirmed as much in a recent interview with MTV.

“I will say that it is an infinitely better situation now than…they were  saying they wanted in summer. Before I even came on the project, they were talking about 2015. They made this announcement very early on. Which I understand. I understand why they would want that. But it didn’t necessarily have anything to do with the reality of where, you know, anyone was creatively. So I think it’s a hugely important that that comes first. A release date is great, but you have to release something great. To me, the new release date is a huge improvement.”

Hopefully the extra time will lead to something very special. You can see the brief MTV video interview below.

Also, just my own fanboy musing: The last two times we’ve seen Abrams doing something Star Wars-related he’s been wearing a plaid shirt, ala George Lucas. I wonder if that’s on purpose or just a silly coincidence? Is he trying to channel Lucas through the Power of Plaid?