Ring the Bells: Disney Confirms Game of Thrones Creators Will Write a New Star Wars Movie

(Bloomberg) — Walt Disney Co. picked quite a week to confirm that the first post-Skywalker Star Wars installment will be scripted by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

After the last Game of Thrones episode polarized fans with a shock decision from leading character Daenerys Targaryen, Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger announced that the next Star Wars movie would definitely be produced by the duo. The entertainment giant had been vague about who would be taking charge of the next installment, which won’t hit theaters until 2022.

“The next movie we produce will be theirs,” Iger said Tuesday at the Moffett Nathanson Media and Communications Summit in New York. “We’re not saying anything more about that.”

Disney announced in February 2018 that Benioff and Weiss were working on Star Wars, saying they would be crafting a series. But since then, a movie in the franchise bombed and the company decided to take a three-year hiatus from the films after the current “Skywalker” storyline concludes in December. Director Rian Johnson was previously tasked with creating a new trilogy as well, but it’s unclear when those films will come out.

Poor Reception

Putting the Game of Thrones writers in charge of Star Wars now looks like a more controversial decision. This whole season of the HBO show, which wraps up next week, has tested fans with unpopular plot twists and character developments. An anachronistic coffee cup in one scene also gave the impression that the show had become sloppy.

The latest episode got positive reviews from a record-low 46% of critics, according to aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. In fact, every episode this season has received worse reviews than the one before it. Still, ratings have been stronger than ever.

The Star Wars franchise isn’t just relying on movies to maintain momentum. Before the 2022 film comes out, there will be two TV shows set in the galaxy: The Mandalorian and a series that Iger described as a prequel to Rogue One. There also may be one more live-action show before the next movies come out, Iger said.

As for the December 2019 film, The Rise of Skywalker, Iger said he hasn’t seen the finished version. “But I’m confident based on the pieces I’ve seen and the script I’ve read that it’ll be extremely popular.”