LFL/Disney Announce New Star Wars Movies from Benioff & Weiss

[Darby]

I agree there's plenty of fertile ground - and I have a pitch or two I'd love to share with Lucasfilm, as well  - and I want to see the franchise grow and take chances.

At the same time like Dave, I'm going through a moment - and maybe that's all it is - where I'm realizing the great balance of what I have loved for my entire life is mostly behind me. The characters are passing, have passed and the future is without them, so far. We do know what the immediate future of the franchise is. It's trilogies and series that do not involve the Skywalkers or saga that we've seen. That's the next 10 years. Maybe there are some anthology films like Obi-Wan on deck we don't know about yet. I'd love to see a Luke movie, a Leia movie, a trilogy in the 30 years between ROTJ and TFA. I'd love to see someone take another swing at the PT era. I want to see the future of Rey and crew.

Separate from that is, as a writer, what I appreciate most in anything is artistic merit. Artistic intent. That's one reason I love TLJ. Love it or hate it - and some of you hate it - it's a Rian Johnson movie. I love that. Some people don't. I've been on the record here before about there needing to be some level of artistic vision and cohesion going forward, or else we're going to continue to have the growing pains we've seen in director dismissals and the like. We're at a point in the franchise and fandom, and to bring in the thread on collecting and making it fun again, where it's fair to ask - what do I want? We all want different things, and that's cool.

This was more coherent in my head, but I'm sick and a little drowsy.

[Jeff]

I'm going through a moment - and maybe that's all it is - where I'm realizing the great balance of what I have loved for my entire life is mostly behind me.

Geez, between this and Jesse's comment on Twitter ("I’m gonna die without ever seeing every Star Wars film") you guys are doing a great job of bumming me out today... 

[Muftak]

And a Solo heist movie in the vein of an Oceans 11 sounds cool, but if it were an Oceans 11 in the Star Wars universe without any known characters?  I don't think I would really find that any more interesting than an animated Oceans 11 starring tropical fish.

**shrugs and throws his freshly-printed copy of "Eleven from the Ocean" screenplay into the trash...**

It's fine to be ambivalent about the future of Star Wars. I've been struggling with those feelings since the Disney purchase as well. I didn't get excited about TFA until maybe Thanksgiving of '15...

As has been expressed, these two new trilogies and any more "a Star Wars story" movies are unknown quantities at this point. It's hard to get excited about a blank page. I can count the "Creator X" announcements that could genuinely excite me on one hand, and I get excited about "movie concepts" only slightly more.

(Not to mention the fact that we've seen more creators dismissed from Disney-era Star Wars movies (or reshot anonymously) than we've seen carried through from beginning to end. It's hard to get excited when tomorrow everyone could get fired.)

I will always love "Star Wars" based on what it has given me. I give movies a fair shake every year, whether Star Wars or not. Some I like, some I don't. Some I love, but I never go into it expecting to love it, I try to let that happen organically, you know?

[Jesse James]

I'm going through a moment - and maybe that's all it is - where I'm realizing the great balance of what I have loved for my entire life is mostly behind me.

Geez, between this and Jesse's comment on Twitter ("I’m gonna die without ever seeing every Star Wars film") you guys are doing a great job of bumming me out today... 

I had a fogie moment there, yup.  It’s hell to get old but to have it realized that I may never see every Star Wars movie.  Man that just hurt. 😕

I’m happy to always have new Star Wars all the time though.  I’m having fun.  I don’t get the people who aren’t having any fun.  Now that’s depressing!

[I Am Sith]

Did anyone catch Igner's comment during the last earnings call?

"...the duo are “focused on a point in time in the Star Wars mythology and taking it from there.”"

Not entirely sure what this means but I'm going to take it to mean it will be related to an already existent aspect of the canon.  I could be wrong in my interpretation, but that's what I'm going to believe until I'm told otherwise.

[P-Siddy]

I'm going through a moment - and maybe that's all it is - where I'm realizing the great balance of what I have loved for my entire life is mostly behind me.

Geez, between this and Jesse's comment on Twitter ("I’m gonna die without ever seeing every Star Wars film") you guys are doing a great job of bumming me out today... 

I had a fogie moment there, yup.  It’s hell to get old but to have it realized that I may never see every Star Wars movie.  Man that just hurt. 😕

I’m happy to always have new Star Wars all the time though.  I’m having fun.  I don’t get the people who aren’t having any fun.  Now that’s depressing!

What kind of opened my eyes to these sentiments (and the ones of films beyond the Skywalker story) was going to Hollywood Studios and seeing Phasma and the Stormtrooper parade and the focus on the Disney Star Wars characters (you can meet Kylo, BB-8, and Chewie)... and I get that Disney wants to emphasize "their" brand of Star Wars.  They bought the rights for good money so they are doing what they feel is best for them and continuing to bring in new, younger fans... and I'm not that target audience. 

But, yes, it seems that there will be Star Wars beyond those who first saw it, with no end in sight.  Heck, I was thinking what if Disney made Solo in the mold of the Marvel Avengers stand-alones and then you'll have a Luke stand-alone, etc. to where their destinies intertwine and you get "A New Hope" remade. 

[Dave]

Heck, I was thinking what if Disney made Solo in the mold of the Marvel Avengers stand-alones and then you'll have a Luke stand-alone, etc. to where their destinies intertwine and you get "A New Hope" remade.

I was thinking about this too, but I just don't think this model works with the existing Star Wars characters.  You would need a whole new crew of heroes and I don't think its worth the trouble.  I think it works for Marvel, but copying that with Star Wars doesn't make much sense.

I do think it would be interesting if the Rian Johnson and Benioff / Weiss storylines could take place concurrently and have the opportunity to interact - e.g. one could focus on a rebel cell and one could focus on smugglers/bounty hunters.  At some point they could have a shared story line where they interact and team up, but I'm also 100% okay if they're not really related in any way.

[Nicklab]

Did anyone catch Igner's comment during the last earnings call?

"...the duo are “focused on a point in time in the Star Wars mythology and taking it from there.”"

Not entirely sure what this means but I'm going to take it to mean it will be related to an already existent aspect of the canon.  I could be wrong in my interpretation, but that's what I'm going to believe until I'm told otherwise.

I caught that, too.  And it makes me think that perhaps Benioff & Weiss might explore the ancient history of the Jedi.  Rian Johnson already set the stage for that with his work on the first Jedi Temple on Ahch-To, and the fleeting bits about the Prime Jedi.  Seeing how there is thousands of years of history of the Jedi prior to the events of the Skywalker saga, the possibilities are almost limitless.  But if I were to zero in on a particular period?  Perhaps when the first Jedi started to turn on the order that led to the formation of the Sith.  That would be compelling.

[Matt_Fury]

Could we be getting a Revan story?

None of this is confirmed, but there's a lot of fertile ground in the KOTOR era!

[EdSolo]

You never know, but the old EU timeline for Revan was ~4000 BBY while the article mentions "hundreds" of years before the Skywalkers.  You could easily make a trilogy out of all the KOTOR stuff, especially if you include the MMO story lines with the Sith Emperor.  I'm not sure if they would want to rehash a video game or just put a new spin on Revan, much like what has happened with Thrawn going from Legends to canon.

One thing I would like to see would be some sort of series that shows the lineage from Darth Bane to Darth Sidious.  I doubt you could effectively do this in the movies since the Sith were hidden for 1,000 years so you really can't have the Sith vs. Jedi confrontations after Bane establishes the rule of two.  You could probably do it in a series of books or comics though.

[StBrianOfMinneapolis]

How does the new news about these dudes impact Star Wars? It sounds like they will be crazy busy working for netflix. Either the time is alotted for each project or maybe they are leaving on the first shuttle for netflix?

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/09/netflix-just-spent-200-million-for-game-of-thrones-creators.html

[Nicklab]

I would think that the Netflix deal is a production / showrunner arrangement.  Will it include writing, too?  I have to wonder about that.  But you also have to think that if they were already under contract with Disney / Lucasfilm, that the Star Wars deal is probably spelled out pretty clearly in terms of their commitments to their trilogy. 

[StBrianOfMinneapolis]

I would think that the Netflix deal is a production / showrunner arrangement.  Will it include writing, too?  I have to wonder about that.  But you also have to think that if they were already under contract with Disney / Lucasfilm, that the Star Wars deal is probably spelled out pretty clearly in terms of their commitments to their trilogy.

I would like to assume all of this is true. However everything seems so foggy with Rian Johnson and these two that I dont know what to think. Plus non of the press releases comment on there work on star wars which would be a small final comment in the end of any decent straight news story.

[Nicklab]

I get the feeling that things are deliberately murky regarding the Rian Johnson films.   Disney/LFL is probably still trying to focus on other things to let some of the TLJ reactions die down.  I thought it was a thought provoking movie, but some people had really negative reactions.  Why revisit that before a script has even been greenlit?  Side note:  I saw a preview for RJ's new film "Knives Out".  It looks pretty cool.

[P-Siddy]

Plus non of the press releases comment on there work on star wars which would be a small final comment in the end of any decent straight news story.

Straight from the article you linked:

But price isn’t the only thing Netflix will deal with when it comes to Benioff and Weiss. While the pair have cut ties with HBO, they still are contracted by Disney to write, produce and direct three Star Wars films. The first film in that trilogy is due out in December 2022.