Well, well, well! The only kind of news that Rian Johnson’s name has been revolved around in is Star Wars. Not just because of his take on the galaxy far, far away with The Last Jedi, but because not that soon after it was announced that he and his producing partner Ram Bergman would be developing a completely new and original Star Wars trilogy. Since then, that’s the only kind of film connection we’ve heard from the duo, until now!

Deadline broke the news earlier this week that Johnson has developed an original story that has been described as a “contemporary murder mystery.” And to much of a surprise, Johnson has actually teamed up with James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, for the project, where Craig will play the lead role of the detective solving the crime. This is somewhat of a shock as Craig was suppose to be lined up to start filming Bond 25, but it seems as if that films recent struggles (director Danny Boyle recently exited, which included the most recent script), he took the opportunity at a project that more than likely features a pretty juicy role. But as Johnson explains to Deadline, Craig was the one-and-only man for the job for both him and Bergman:

“I have been a huge fan and always wanted to work with him and as I worked on the script, trying to get it right, Ram and I were wringing our hands over who could be the detective. Then, serendipitously, we heard Daniel might have a small window, and it worked out. He’s an actor of extraordinary range, and we are looking forward to the fun of finding that modern detective, and collaborating with Daniel on creating a new Poirot.”

Now this obviously raises a couple of high-profile questions. First of all, Johnson’s original Star Wars trilogy is not put on hold or dead or any of that nonsense. It’s clearly explained in Deadline’sSta article that Johnson developed this film this past summer with a narrow window to shoot in mind, which included Daniel Craig as he’ll (hopefully) be returning for Bond 25 soon. On top of that, following the success of The Last Jedi, Lucasfilm was extremely happy with their work with Johnson, which ended up in the studio to lockdown the writer/director for an all-new Star Wars story that will include new characters, new settings and possibly even a new time.

The second part of this is Bond 25. Danny Boyle left the film over “creative differences,” although it was going to be based on a script with his writing partner. So the film and studio obviously have to go back to the drawing board rather than just getting a new director, and that could take time. But if Craig will be a part of this film, which will no doubt gain some serious buzz around the business, how long will Bond 25 be delayed? Is the studio having a hard time finding a replacement or are they revamping the script completely?

Either way, I can’t describe my excitement to see the director of Brick and Looper get back into his wheel. While it’s blatantly clear that Johnson has a pure love for Star Wars, his original stories are the reason he become such a monumental director so quickly. I can’t wait to see what kind of originality he brings to this brand new Star Wars trilogy, but I’d be lying if I said I was looking forward to that more than this new project with Craig. A murder mystery story from writer/director Rian Johnson? Are you kidding me? Sign me up, a thousand times over again.

What do you think of this news? How does the Johnson and Craig team-up intrigue you? Will it be as incredible as it sounds? Are you looking forward to Johnson’s Star Wars trilogy? Sound off below!