By: Dominic Jones
Very little is known about what the Star Wars films will be after Episode IX hits theaters this December. We know who is making them, The Last Jedi's Rian Johnson is developing a trilogy and Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are working on a series of films, but outside of that virtually nothing (including release dates) is known. Today, however, Star Wars News Net is reporting on some early details they have learned from a source close to the production.
SWNN reports that the next film will be the first from Benioff and Weiss and that it will go into production this fall, with the script currently being finalized and the art departments up and running. They also report that the story will be set well before the events of the Skywalker saga, with the source saying, "think almost Star Wars meets Lord of the Rings" and that "Disney wants to open up the Star Wars timeline and appeal to a more ‘Game of Thrones‘ style audience."
The timeline of the report could make sense. The final season of Game of Thrones wrapped production back in July 2018, so the duo could have been working on the script and doing early pre-production work on their Star Wars film while post-production was ongoing with Game of Thrones. And, while there's still no word on release date, however, if we look at previous Star Wars production timelines, it seems very likely that Disney is eyeing a December 2020 release date for the film, assuming the report is accurate.
One major question I still have about this film that isn't cover in the report is who the director will be. When Benioff and Weiss' series was announced, they were announced as the writers and the producers--not the directors of the series. So, presumably, a director has already been hired and has been working on the film for some time now. When we will learn who that is is unknown, although Star Wars Celebration is coming up next month and Lucasfilm may want to make (another) big splash during their convention and reveal the director's identity then. But that's pure speculation at this point.
As for the rumors about the type of Star Wars film they are making (Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones-esque), it sounds very intriguing to me. As much as I enjoyed the "Old Republic" era of the Legends books, comics, and video games, I hope that the new films make a few changes to the era. Mainly, so that the technology and world of the "ancient" stories isn't a carbon copy of what we saw in the prequel and original trilogy (this was an issue I had with many of the Legends tales, especially the video games). I want to see a time in the galaxy when the technology was less refined, and maybe more dangerous. If you're going to go back in time in Star Wars, I think you should make sure it feels like a different time, otherwise why bother?
As always, this is just a rumor until confirmed or denied by Lucasfilm or Disney.
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