Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss set to write and produce a new “Star Wars” series of films, Disney announced on Tuesday. The creative duo is going from Winterfell to a galaxy far, far away.
With Star Wars: Episode IX set to cap the trilogy of trilogies and Game of Thrones approaches its 2019 conclusion, the timing is right for both parties. While no one has ruled out future films continuing the main Star Wars storyline in the future, it’s clear that Disney and Lucasfilm plan on taking the franchise into a multitude of new territories.
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. “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.”
“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 said in 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.”
Disney acquired Lucasfilm for more than $4 billion in 2012. From that moment the studio has been exploring every avenue to expand the famous far way galaxy to get the largest return on their investment. They immediately delved into a new trilogy that brings together familiar characters with new ones. The studio also started standalone spinoff films such as Rogue One and the upcoming Solo, a peek at Han Solo’s younger days.
Lucasfilm and Disney did not give release dates for the new films but joked that there “have (thankfully) been no sightings of White Walkers around Lucasfilm.”