Seems like almost everyone is shooting for the "geek-oriented" directors to take the helm (Abrams, Jackson, Favreau, etc.), but honestly, I'd rather see someone who is just straight up a GOOD movie director - I don't care about their geek creds. Irvin Kershner wasn't known for making sci-fi movies, but he made the best SW movie, hands down. Richard Marquand - same thing. Why not look for just SOLID directors who can tell a story effectively?
Sure, having someone who is a huge SW fan is nice, but I'm sure there will be more than enough folks behind the scenes who are ultra SW geeks. Without a dictator-like presence a la Lucas running things, I think simply a great director could give us a fantastic movie. David O. Russell? Darren Aronovsky? Tom Hooper? Kathryn Bigelow? Danny Boyle? Maybe none of them would want to take on the job, but I hope they think outside of the obvious with this choice.