David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are no long writing and producing a new trilogy of Star Wars films. The
Game of Thrones creators and writers had previously announced along with Disney that they were hired to create three new films for the Star Wars universe, but due to scheduling constraints, the pair have now stepped away from the project.Benioff and Weiss made the news official in a statement to
Variety, confirming that their upcoming partnership with
Netflix on several undisclosed movies and shows means they no longer have enough time to travel to a galaxy far, far away. Three times.“We love Star Wars. When George Lucas built it, he built us too,”
Benioff and Weiss told Variety. “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. But 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.”The partnership between Benioff, Weiss and Lucasfilm was announced in February 2018. The trilogy would have followed a different story from the current set of movies, which will conclude with J.J. Abrams'
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, set to be released on December 20. It was also separate from another new trilogy being developed by
Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson. Benioff and Weiss were slated to drop their first film in December 2022, with the next two films arriving in 2024 and 2026. It’s unclear who, if anyone, will take over Benioff and Weiss’ deal with Disney, but considering the popularity of the current Star Wars trilogy and the recent opening of the Star Wars parks at both Disneyland and Disney World, the director and writer positions for the films won’t remain vacant for very long.It looks like the show creators are leaving the deal on good terms with Disney. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy also spoke to
Variety, saying “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.”The news of their departure from Disney comes just two days after a surprising panel appearance at the Austin Film Festival, with the GoT creators breaking their silence following the show’s controversial ending. Festival attendee @ForArya tweeted some of Benioff and Weiss’ comments from the panel, with the pair revealing the extent of their unpreparedness when shooting the first season of
Game of Thrones. The pair revealed that HBO went through with the first season even after the men ‘made every mistake possible’ because of presales and said that major rewrites had to be made, including adding scenes between Cersei Lannister and her husband Robert Baratheon.
The pair also revealed that they did not have a major plan for the series because the scope of the books was too large and instead focused on major scenes.
Benioff and Weiss's remarks have resulted in a polarizing response from fans, with some applauding the men for making a groundbreaking series with no training, while others have been critical of the pair’s success.[video_embed id='1785183']These overrated TV shows keep winning awards[/video_embed]
