PA/Walt Disney Studios Motion PicturesTwo mighty fantasy universes are about to collide, with the next Star Wars movie set to be overseen by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
This fresh installment in the Star Wars franchise will enter our solar system as of 2022, and is said not to be part of the new trilogy which is currently being developed by director Rian Johnson (The Last Jedi).
This big news was announced by Disney CEO Robert Iger at Disney’s annual Upfronts event, with Benioff and Weiss now being free from Game of Thrones commitments.
As reported by Variety, Iger made the following intriguing announcement:
We’re hard at work already, but we felt three years was the proper amount of time to not only take a breather and reset, but to gear up for the next film’s release.
We did a deal with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who are famous for Game of Thrones, and the next movie we release will be theirs. We’re not saying anything more about that.
It is not yet clear what this new Star Wars movie will be about, however it is understood the story will be a separate one from the saga which has kept sci-fi viewers enthralled since 1977.
Two further untitled Star Wars movies have been slated for 2024, and 2026. The dates for Johnson’s trilogy have not yet been given.
Hey rational #StarWars fans, let's keep our fandom healthy, and let's not make Benioff/Weiss vs Rian Johnson a thing. That literally does not exist, and makes no sense, so can we not start that nonsense? PLEASE?
— John Hoey (@JohnnyHoey) May 13, 2019
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will bring the current story arc to a conclusion at the end of this year, and there is still a galaxy worth of stories for future writers to build on.
Iger has even teased the possibility of a Star Wars TV series, to be aired via Disney+ streaming service:
My guess is there probably will be at least one more live-action series that we produce for Disney+, a Star Wars series, before we release the next film.
So we’re not doing nothing. I believe these TV series will be extremely popular for Star Wars fans and very very valuable to Disney+ while we gear up for the next set of films. We haven’t said anything more beyond what we’ve announced on the next film.
Benioff and Weiss have already proved their fantasy pedigree during their time on Game of Thrones, and it will be exciting to see what they do when faced with a new – and vastly more extensive – universe.
You can catch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in cinemas as of December 20, 2019. The first installment of the new trilogy will hit cinemas as of December 16, 2022.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.