Lucasfilm and Disney announced today that Josh Trank has been tapped to direct one of the stand-alone movies that will alternate with the films in the new core trilogy.
 
Trank is currently directing the reboot of Fantastic Four for Twentieth Century Fox (see "Fox Pushes 'Fantastic Four,' 'Daredevil' Reboots" and "'FF' Reboot Will Be Origin Story").  He came to Hollywood attention after directing 2012’s Chronicle, also for Twentieth Century Fox.
 
"The magic of the Star Wars Universe defined my entire childhood," Trank said, "The opportunity to expand on that experience for future generations is the most incredible dream of all time."
 
He’s not kidding, since he wrote and directed a Star Wars fan film titled Stabbing at Leia’s back in 2007, which is blowing up on YouTube right now.  The fan film-to-career path is starting to be well traveled.  The fan film TROOPS also kick-started a Star Wars-related career for Kevin Rubio, both in graphic novels and TV.
 
The timing of the announcement is a bit surprising, since it’s only been a few weeks since Lucasfilm announced Gareth Edwards on the first stand-alone Star Wars film (see "Director Signed for First Stand-alone 'Star Wars' Film").