About a year ago, it was reported that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the showrunners of Game of Thrones would be working on a Star Wars trilogy. The trilogy will feature new characters and will not have anything to do with the Skywalker Saga. Rumour has it that their trilogy would be Lord of the Rings-style films set in the Old Republic. A few months ago, it was confirmed that the blockbuster pair’s first Star Wars film would grace the big screen in 2022.
However, in a shocking turn of events, Benioff and Weiss have decided to leave the project. In a gracious statement, the duo said:
We love Star Wars…When George Lucas built it, he built us too. Getting to talk about Star Wars with him and the current Star Wars team was the thrill of a lifetime, and we will always be indebted to the saga that changed everything…There are only so many hours in the day, and we felt we could not do justice to both Star Wars and our Netflix projects. So we are regretfully stepping away.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy had this to say:
David Benioff and Dan Weiss are incredible storytellers,. We hope to include them in the journey forward when they are able to step away from their busy schedule to focus on Star Wars.
If you’re wondering if this has got anything to do with the critically polarising final season of Game of Thrones, the answer is probably not. Back in August, the duo signed a huge nine-figure deal over at Netflix and Deadline reports that their hectic schedule is the reason why they decided to step away from SW.
And don’t worry, Star Wars will be fine too. There’s plenty of projects currently in the pipeline, even if we exclude the Disney Plus ones (The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan). For one, there’s the Rian Johnson trilogy that’s in development which will supposedly venture into unexplored territories of the galaxy far, far away. On top of that, recently it was reported that Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige will also be producing an SW film.
