‘Star Wars’: ‘Game of Thrones’ Creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Set to Write All-New Film Series
“Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are heading to a genre galaxy of a very different stripe. Lucasfilm has announced that the pair are set to write and produce an all-new series of “Star Wars” film for the rapidly expanding cinematic universe. The official release notes that “these new films will be separate from both the episodic Skywalker saga and the recently-announced trilogy being developed by Rian Johnson, writer-director of ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi.'”
“David and Dan are some of the best storytellers working today,” said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm in an official statement. “Their command of complex characters, depth of story and richness of mythology will break new ground and boldly push ‘Star Wars’ in ways I find incredibly exciting.”
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“In the summer of 1977 we traveled to a galaxy far, far away, and we’ve been dreaming of it ever since,” Benioff and Weiss added in their own a joint statement. “We are honored by the opportunity, a little terrified by the responsibility, and so excited to get started as soon as the final season of ‘Game of Thrones’ is complete.”
The final season of the lauded HBO series will close out in 2019.
The next “Star Wars” film to arrive in theaters is this summer’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” the Ron Howard-directed standalone origin story about legendary rogue Han Solo. While other standalone films have long been rumored to join the cinematic universe, no other official titles have been announced (some enduring possibilities: a Lando Calrissian film, an Obi-Wan Kenobi offering, or perhaps something about Yoda). The Skywalker saga will end its latest trilogy in 2019, when the J.J. Abrams-directed and currently untitled “Episode IX” is released in December.
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Nearly a month before his “Last Jedi” was released in December of last year, Johnson was announced as the creator of an all-new trilogy of “Star Wars” films, one that will include a fresh story and a stable of new characters. No release dates have been set for those films as of yet.
There’s also no word on how this news will impact the production of Benioff and Weiss’ other HBO series, the “alternate history timeline” series “Confederate,” which drew ire when it was announced this past summer for its plans to depict an America that never abolished slavery. That series was initially expected to serve as the pair’s first big post-“Game of Thrones” production, though surely this new project will impact those plans.
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