Game of Thrones Showrunners Officially Leading Next Star Wars Film
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It’s official: Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will be heading up the next Star Wars film (after Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, of course).
Weiss’ and Benioff’s upcoming involvement with the franchise has been known for quite some time now, but this is the first definitive news that 2022’s slated Star Wars film will be coming from the duo.
As revealed in a report from io9, the news comes via Disney bigwig Bob Iger during a recent MoffettNathanson Media & Communications summit in New York, where he formally announced Weiss’ and Benioff’s project as the franchise’s next move.
“We did a deal with David Benioff and D.B Weiss, who are famous for Game of Thrones, and the next movie that we release will be theirs,” said Iger. “And we’re not saying anything more about that.”
Just last week, Disney announced that the next three Star Wars films will be released in December of 2022, 2024 and 2026. Two separate projects are currently in development, the first from Benioff and Weiss, and the second from Episode VIII: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, though we’ve had no updates on the latter since it was announced in fall 2017. It has been rumored that the first film from the Game of Thrones showrunners will take place during the Old Republic period—hundreds of years before the Skywalker saga occurs.
In addition to those forthcoming films, two Star Wars-centric series are currently in development for the soon-to-be-released Disney+ streaming service: The Mandalorian, starring Game of Thrones alum Pedro Pascal, and another show focused on Rogue One character Cassian Andor.