Woke up, bleary and exhausted, to some excellent Star Wars news: Rian Johnson — the writer/director of Brick, Looper, and The Brothers Bloom — will be writing and directing Episode VIII, as well as writing — although not directing — Episode IX. (Man, I hope we don’t get another trilogy after this. I always fail at the Roman Numerals category on Jeopardy. I get to ten, and I’m just done.)

I’m trying to temper my excitement because it seems like every other day a director I like is stepping down from a project I’m interested in. (Edgar Wright quitting Ant-Man is probably the most obvious example, but there have been others.) Still, this is pretty awesome news. I adore Brick with every bit of my nerd heart, and though I think Looper and The Brothers Bloom have a few problems, I found them both intriguing and pretty entertaining overall, certainly enough to consider them successful films.

Honestly, my interest in the new Star Wars movies has been pretty mild so far — I still haven’t watched Revenge of the Sith because of how much Attack of the Clones sucked monkey ASS, and I’m not actually excited to see the old band get together because I’m a little concerned about what’s going to happen to them, now that they’re passing off the torch to all the new, younger characters. I’m all for making a deeper, more complex trilogy out of this universe, but I am also unlikely to be happy with any film that kills off either Han or Leia. (Luke, I care less about. I think we all care a little less about Luke, right?)

Still, more news like this, and I might be able to overcome my initial trepidation. Especially because I’ve decided that Rian Johnson is my new favorite person, considering this tweet he posted right after the news came out.

Best. Reaction. Ever. I kind of love you, guy.