The team that was supposed to bring us the post Skywalker era of Star Wars has just exited the franchise. This news broke from an exclusive from Deadline.com. The duo stated that they just had too much on their plate to dedicate the kind of work that needed to be done on the new films.
“We love Star Wars. When George Lucas built it, he built us too. 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.” The two stated to Deadline.
They have no other projects other than the massive deal they just made with Netflix. Which leaves one to wonder if the reason that they do not want to continue with Star Wars was because of what a huge disappointment the last season of Game of Thrones was.
They admitted that they took on the majority of the work for that last season even though HBO told them to use all their resources. They never exactly apologized for the show but also admitted they made a lot of mistakes. It would make sense for them to be nervous about taking on another big franchise after the massive negative reaction to Game of Thrones. While they are saying it is solely because of the current deal with Netflix it is probably also partially because they are insecure about taking up another franchise that they didn’t create.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement that the team would be welcome back if their schedules would allow it in the future. “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.”
So while it is possible that they will eventually return to Star Wars in the meantime it means the cancellation of one project at Disney. Rian Johnson’s trilogy is still in the works and that should be starting production very soon. As well as all of the Star Wars series that they have coming out on Disney Plus.
Cover image credit: Jeff Kravitz/HBO
