Disney-owned Lucasfilm is letting the team behind HBO's Game of Thrones write a new Star Wars trilogy.
Lucasfilm has announced on Tuesday via the Star Wars website that David Benioff and DB Weiss, the showrunners from HBO’s adaptation of George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, will be creating their own series of Star Wars films. This film series will be different from the original saga films as well as the trilogy that Rian Johnson, The Last Jedi's writer and director, is currently developing.
The duo will write and produce the films, according to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who said in a statement that they are "some of the best storytellers working today". She added: “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.” Unfortunately, that's all Kennedy really said.
Apart from the announcement on the trilogy itself, there are few details. While it's not surprising to hear that Disney-Lucasfilm has more Star Wars films in the works, as it's already making the final three installments in the Skywalker saga, as well standalone films like the forthcoming Solo and Johnson's trilogy, the news that Benioff and Weiss are involved will certainly please sci-fi fans and GoT fans.
Keep in mind HBO had previously said they were developing and writing a new HBO series, called Confederate. But that project immediately faced backlash, and since then, HBO has stayed mum about whether Confederate is still getting a full green light. However, now that we know Benioff and Weiss are doing Star Wars, we're skeptical that they'll have the time to do Confederate, too.
We'll keep you posted as we learn more.