When the Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were first announced as the captains of a new Star Wars trilogy, many speculated that they’d be adapting the Knights of the Old Republic or at least a movie set in the Old Republic. After all, Knights of the Old Republic which takes place thousands of years before The Phantom Menace focuses on an armada of Sith going up against the Jedi and the Republic. It certainly does have Game of Thrones elements in it.
Another rumour that dropped later suggested that Benioff and Weiss will be working on a Lord of the Rings style Star Wars trilogy, which only further strengthed the Knights of the Old Republic speculation. Later, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that the company was indeed working on a set of movies based on the Knights of the Old Republic video game. Once again, most of us assumed that it would indeed be Benioff and Weiss’ projects.
However, in an interesting twist of events, Buzzfeed News reports that Laeta Kalogridis, who executive produced Avatar, has been tapped to write a new Star Wars movie based on the iconic 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. It would also serve as the first film in a new trilogy. Representatives from Disney declined to comment.
So this is where things get a little confusing.
While it’s still unclear, it seems, based on the way the BuzzFeed article is worded at least, Laeta Kalogridis is working on a completely separate trilogy from Benioff and Weiss. Does this mean that there are currently three different trilogies in the works at Lucasfilm? Remember, we also have the Rian Johnson trilogy currently in development. Kathleen Kennedy even mentioned that Johnson will be working closely together with the Game of Thrones boys to craft the next 10 years of Star Wars. Of course, there’s also the possibility that Kalogridis will be working with Benioff and Weiss on their trilogy.
Kalogridis will be the first female Star Wars writer since Leigh Brackett co-wrote the screenplay of The Empire Strikes Back with Lawrence Kasdan back in 1980. Brackett has an interesting resume. While her two recent films, Alita and Terminator: Genisys have been largely hit or miss (mostly miss if you ask me), she’s also the genius who penned Shutter Island based on Dennis Lehane’s novel. I’m excited to see what she can do with Star Wars.
The next Star Wars film to hit the big screen will be The Rise of Skywalker, which will be out later this December. After that, the theatrical side of Star Wars will be on hiatus until 2022. Don’t worry, though, as we’ve got a bunch of great Star Wars content coming to you on the small screen, including Jon Favreau’s highly anticipated The Mandalorian which will drop on Disney Plus this November.
