The Star Wars trilogy in development from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss is no more.
Earlier this week, news broke that Benioff and Weiss, famous for their instrumental role in HBO’s Game of Thrones series, had “regretfully” walked away from the planned trilogy, citing their upcoming Netflix projects (and the simple fact that there aren’t enough hours in the day) as the reason for their surprise exit.
There is, however, some speculation that the divisive Game of Thrones finale was actually responsible for sinking Benioff and Weiss’ Star Wars trilogy before it had a chance to get off the ground. The ‘story’ goes that Lucasfilm execs actually made the decision back in May, before the aforementioned Netflix deal, though it’s unclear why the Powers That Be would wait until now before severing ties with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Regardless, this seems to confirm our scoop from yesterday which said much the same thing.
The report suggests that the ‘cooling-off’ period, if that’s what you want to call it, would give Benioff and Weiss ample time to shop their projects elsewhere. But, as is often the case, it seems this rumor blew out of proportion quite quickly, leading Joanna Robinson – the original source – to step in and clarify her comments.
Via Twitter:
We're pulling the episode, if you're planning to report on anything that was said in there I would appreciate you reaching out to me directly—as some of you already have—rather than taking the word of a Reddit post.
— J?anna R?bins?n (@jowrotethis) October 30, 2019
So, it looks there may be more to the story here. In any case, while David Benioff and D.B. Weiss left Game of Thrones on a sour note, it seems their divorce with Lucasfilm was amicable in its nature. Disgruntled viewers will always read between the lines for any possible subtext, and while Benioff and Weiss didn’t exactly help themselves with some really rather questionable comments at the Austin Film Festival last weekend, Lucasfilm has a tendency to act swiftly when a Star Wars project isn’t making enough progress.
Just look at Solo and The Rise of Skywalker, the latter of which is now under the control of J.J. Abrams for a December 20th release.
