Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy is on the hunt for new filmmakers as David Benioff and Dan Weiss leave a galaxy far, far away over their commitment to a lucrative $250 million Netflix deal.
On Monday, word broke that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were stepping away from the Star Wars trilogy that Lucasfilm hired them to develop almost two years ago. This news was met with a somewhat harsh reaction from fans, some of whom still haven’t forgiven Benioff and Weiss for the polarizing final season of Game of Thrones. But even those fans must be a little bit curious about what the duo’s Star Wars films would have entailed. Now, we have some new insight into what the writers were planning.
A new report from Variety reveals that Benioff and Weiss were going to trace the history of the Jedi. They specifically wanted to explore how the Jedi Order came into existence in a story that would “exist apart” from the Skywalker Saga. Sadly, the report makes no mention of whether this would include any further references to midi-chlorians.
Over time, Benioff and Weiss’ vision for their trilogy began to “diverge” from that of Lucasfilm execs, including Kathleen Kennedy. Benioff and Weiss also have a $250 million pact with Netflix. Apparently, Netflix didn’t want to wait for them to finish their Star Wars work before creating new content for them. With this, Lucasfilm began taking meetings with other writers, and Benioff and Weiss eventually jumped ship.
This obviously isn’t the first time that one or more creators have left a Star Wars project over creative differences. Lucasfilm has previously seen Josh Trank, Colin Trevorrow, and Phil Lord and Chris Miller come and go from various movies. Usually, veteran filmmakers get some degree of creative freedom when they sign on for a movie. However, it seems like Lucasfilm’s general expectation is ultimately “for people to stick to the company line.”
One underlying problem Benioff and Weiss' exit illustrates, one source notes, is that there is still no consensus as to what Star Wars is and what Star Wars should be. Disney CEO Bob Iger said there would be a "slowdown" of Star Wars on the big screen, and Lucasfilm shelved a planned Obi-Wan Kenobi movie in favor of making it a Disney+ streaming series, while a planned Boba Fett movie from filmmaker James Mangold was also put on ice. For now, the immediate future of Star Wars will be on the small screen, with Disney+ launching The Mandalorian as its flagship show. In addition to an Obi-Wan series, a Diego Luna-led Rogue One prequel is also in the works.
Unlike Marvel, which has had a clear vision of its cinematic universe, Star Wars has had trouble finding its footing. Johnson took big swings with the mythos in The Last Jedi, and while the film was welcomed by critics and some fans, he was batted down by a vocal portion of the Star Wars community.
“This stuff needs to be sorted before it gets to a cataclysmic point,” says the source.
Would you have liked to see David Benioff and D.B. Weiss films about the origins of the Jedi?
Should Lucasfilm hire other filmmakers to tell this same story?
Leave a comment and tell me what you think about it all!