I was awakened by a loud thud outside my bedroom. It was 5 am here in Malaysia, at the time. I rubbed my eyes and did what anyone would do when they hear a loud thud outside your bedroom in the middle of the night. I checked Twitter.
Apparently, the “Game of Thrones” showrunners will be working on new “Star Wars” films. I thought to myself, surely I must be dreaming! And went back to sleep. I’m fully awake now — I splashed ice water on my face to be sure. Holy shit! It wasn’t a dream. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are actually going to be working on new “Star Wars” movies.
According to StarWars.com the showrunners of the holy grail of television, “Game of Thrones”, will write and produce a new series of “Star Wars” films. But before fans start panicking about Rian Johnson’s trilogy, StarWars.com goes on to state that these new films will be separate from the ongoing Skywalker saga, as well as the recently announced Rian Johnson trilogy.
President of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy had this to say:
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.
Besides their ability to tell great, complex stories, Benioff and Weiss are also huge “Star Wars” fans. In a joint statement, they said:
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.
“Game of Thrones” and “Star Wars” are two of my favourite things in the world! And this news gave me 257 nerdgasms earlier today. It’s a miracle I’m even still alive. But something interesting popped into my mind earlier.
The downside.
Reading this, your first thought would probably be, “cut the crap, you assclown!”
I get it. But hear me out.
The downside to this has got nothing to do with Benioff and Weiss’ creative merits. These guys are extremely talented, not just as producers but as writers as well. There is no doubt in my mind that their “Star Wars” movies are going to be nothing short of amazeballs!!
There is an argument to be made, though, that perhaps this isn’t shaping up to be the “Star Wars” universe we were hoping to get when we first heard that Disney bought over Lucasfilm. Many fans believed that a cinematic universe of sorts would be in the works à la the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A giant universe in which the books, comics, and all things canon would interweave flawlessly in a singular continuity. Where we would have a movie about character A, a movie following character B, a side adventure with character C and then an EPIC film where all the characters come together.
The announcement that these films — Skywalker saga, Rian Johnson’s trilogy, and Benioff and Weiss’ — will be completely separate from one another, tells me that we won’t be getting the giant Star Wars universe, after all.
Of course, you have to remember that these are mere speculations on my end. We won’t actually know what’s up until we get more information regarding the stories and timelines of these announced movies.
Which brings me to problem number 2.
Why did Lucasfilm even announce that Benioff and Weiss will be working on a new set of movies this early? After all, we hardly know anything about Rian Johnson’s trilogy yet. It doesn’t seem like Disney’s usual MO. Disney is known for keeping these type of information closer to the chest and only announce something when they have a concrete plan — look at how Kevin Feige handles the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I’m left wondering if Disney dropped this giant news in the wake of the less than stellar response to the trailer of “Solo: A Star Wars Story”, as if to say, “Heyy! The Solo trailer may not be awesome, but here’s something AMAZING to talk about.”
