‘Star Wars: Episode 7′ Director Power Rankings

Since the 'Star Wars: Episode 7' news was announced, Brad Bird ('Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol') was the top choice of 'Star Wars' fans and industry insiders. So much so that many begin to speculate that Bird's upcoming project '1952' was actually a secret cover for 'Star Wars: Episode 7' (it's not). Bird won two Oscars during his run with Pixar (for 'The Incredibles' and 'Ratatouille') and is old friends with John Lasseter, current Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney Studios. But would he put '1952' (which just cast George Clooney) on hold?

Joe Johnston doesn't have the instant name recognition that some of the other names on this list have, mostly because he's an older guy. But Johnston ('Captain America') certainly makes sense as a candidate. He worked as a concept artist on the first 'Star Wars' film and produced 'Willow' alongside George Lucas. (Lucas would later even pay his tuition to USC.) It's the safest of all the directors on this list but maybe that's exactly what 'Star Wars: Episode 7' needs to kickstart a new set of films after the last trilogy.

Jon Favreau has a history working with a massive franchise. He essentially launched 'The Avengers' with his work on 'Iron Man' (and we'll forgive him for 'Cowboys & Aliens'). He also has a history working with Harrison Ford. He also has a history with the 'Star Wars' universe, voicing Pre Vizsla in 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars.' Said Favreau recently about the upcoming trilogy: "To say that I am not excited about it is definitely an understatement. We’ll see..." That "we'll see" has people intrigued about his potential involvement.

Like Johnston, most people probably won't recognize Colin Trevorrow by name. And even if you listed his only directorial effort - 'Safety Not Guaranteed' - there would be plenty of people who wouldn't know what you're talking about. But George Lucas is one of the people who saw Trevorrow's 2012 indie debut and, reportedly, loved it. Trevorrow was cornered about his rumored involvement and said, "I can definitely say that I would absolutely love to direct a ‘Star Wars’ film at some point in my life. That would be incredible, I’m not daunted by it."

Del Toro is a new name to the potential 'Star Wars: Episode 7' director list but joins the ranks because of recent comments he made. When asked about the new trilogy, Del Toro said, "You know, I saw it on the Internet, but I haven’t approached them, they haven’t formally approached me. I mean, I heard some rumblings." The emphasis on "formally" was entirely De Toro's, which seems to indicate that there was at least some informal gauging of interest from the people at Disney. But Del Toro himself points out he has about 100 projects in the works, which may prevent this from ever happening.