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Disney revealed Tuesday that Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are slated to write and produce a series of new Star Wars movies, which will be separate from the ongoing episodic Skywalker trilogy.
With the final season of Game of Thrones scheduled for 2019, Benioff and Weiss are on track to move from Westeros to a galaxy far, far away soon, although a date for the new series of movies has yet to be announced.
Star Wars: Episode IX, the final chapter in the ongoing episodic trilogy, is currently set for a release date of December, 2019. According to StarWars.com, Benioff and Weiss' movies will also be separate from the recently-announced new trilogy Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is set to develop.
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Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement about the announcement Tuesday,
“David and Dan are some of the best storytellers working today. 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.”
David Benioff (L.) via Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons. D.B. Weiss (r.) via Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons.
Last summer, Benioff and Weiss announced that after Game of Thrones they would move to a new project at HBO called Confederate. The sci-fi drama series was to be based around the premise that the South successfully seceded from the Union during the Civil War, and the official description of the show promised to depict "a nation in which slavery remains legal and has evolved into a modern institution."
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After Confederate was announced, many expressed concern about Benioff and Weiss' new project. MacArthur Genius and National Book Award-winner Ta-Nehisi Coates pointed out in The Atlantic that Confederate's concept "is premised on a simplistic view of white Southern defeat, instead of the more complicated morass we have all around us." Given today's announcement about Benioff and Weiss' new project, TVLine speculates that Confederate may have been cancelled.
Regardless, in a join statement today Benioff and Weiss expressed their excitement to join the Star Wars team: “In the summer of 1977 we traveled to a galaxy far, far away, and we’ve been dreaming of it ever since. 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.”
[via Variety]
Featured still from "The Last Jedi" via Lucasfilm
