Despite previously saying that he declined any involvement in the next Star Wars trilogy, reports say that J.J. Abrams will add the title of director of the first movie of the new Star Wars trilogy to director of the rebooted Star Trek franchise.

In December, Abrams told Empire Magazine that there were some early discussions but he didn’t go forward with discussions over directing one of the upcoming movies because of his loyalty to Star Wars. Because of the friendly rivalry between Star Trek and Star Wars fans, it’s interesting that one director would helm both franchises.

It’s not like Abrams doesn’t have some geek credibility to make him an acceptable choice for the job. He’s helmed sci-fi TV series Lost and Fringe and directed the rebooted Star Trek franchise and Super 8. In addition to the geek cred, these made him a serious force in Hollywood.

According to The Wrap who first reported Abrams getting hired. Ben Affleck was one of the directors on the shortlist to direct the movie. I don’t know where that rumour comes from either. Kevin Smith, okay. Ben? I guess I’ll have to watch Argo to understand.

It’ll be interesting to see if J.J. is able to work in his trademarks. Supernatural forces will be covered off by The Force. Time travel hasn’t been featured in Star Wars before and I hope not to see it in the new trilogy but you can never count it out with Abrams. Similarly, Lucas has never used lens flare anywhere nearly as gratuitously as Abrams but ILM sure got a lot of practice during Star Trek.

As it stands, Episode VII is scheduled for release in 2015. If it sticks to LucasFilm tradition, the film is likely to come out in May just before the Memorial Day weekend. In case you need a refresher, Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3 writer Michael Arndt is writing Episode VII.

Now that we have Abrams for Episode VII, I have two questions: 1) Are we all okay with Abrams doing both Star Trek and Star Wars? And 2) Can Disney get Joss Whedon to do Episode VIII?