Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss not only shared details about what their plans for Star Wars was, but made it abundantly clear that Rian Johnson and his The Last Jedi movie destroyed those plans.
David Benioff and D. B. Weiss speaking at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con International, for “Game of Thrones”, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Benioff and Weiss announced they would be creating a number of Star Wars projects back in 2018.
The duo said in a joint statement, “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.”
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy provided an update in 2019 saying, “As they finish Game of Thrones, they’re going to segue into Star Wars. They’re working very closely with Rian.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 15: Kathleen Kennedy arrives at the special 3-episode launch event for Lucasfilm’s original series Andor at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on September 15, 2022. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
By October 2019, the duo announced their exit from Star Wars, “We love Star Wars. When George Lucas built it, he built us too. Getting to talk about Star Wars with him and the current Star Wars team was the thrill of a lifetime, and we will always be indebted to the saga that changed everything.”
“There are only so many hours in the day, and we felt we could not do justice to both Star Wars and our Netflix projects. So we are regretfully stepping away,” they explained.
Daisy Ridley as Rey in The Last Jedi (2017), Lucasfilm
Now, speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Benioff first detailed what their idea was, “We wanted to do The First Jedi. Basically how the Jedi Order came to be, why it came to be, the first lightsaber …”
Weiss added dryly, “And we were annoyed as hell when [Rian Johnson, the duo’s longtime friend and 3BP producer] called his movie The Last Jedi. He completely destroyed the obvious title for what we were working on.”
When asked what went wrong at Lucasfilm, Benioff shared, “[Lucasfilm] ended up not wanting to do a First Jedi story. We had a very specific story idea in mind, and ultimately they decided they didn’t want to do that. And we totally get it. It’s their company and their IP, but we weren’t the droids they were looking for.”
Rian Johnson at the Star Wars: The Last Jedi Japan red carpet premiere. Photo Credit: Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Ironically, Lucasfilm announced an origin of the Force movie from director James Mangold at Star Wars Celebration last year.
A press release detailed the movie “will take audiences deep into the past, telling the tale of the first Jedi to wield the Force and harness it as a liberating power in an era of chaos and oppression.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: James Mangold, Dave Filoni, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy onstage during the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Disney)
In an interview with Gizmodo, Mangold provided some details about his plans for the film, “When I mentioned to Kathy [Kennedy, Lucasfilm president] the idea that I had about going backward—really far backward—I was surprised that it excited her and the other wonderful people she works with at Lucasfilm.”
“For me, it’s about, I want to be part of the saga, but I also don’t want to be holding so much lore in the air that you can hardly tell a story,” he explained. ” And what I really wanted to do, what I told her, was just can we make a kind of the Ten Commandments of the Force, you know? A kind of origin story of how the Force came to be known, understood, wielded, and harnessed.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: James Mangold and Dave Filoni onstage during the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Disney)
Kennedy also provided details about the film in an interview with Games Radar noting how it will be connected to Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s featuring Daisy Ridley’s Rey.
She first provided details about Obaid-Chinoy’s film, “I think what’s always great about Star Wars is it’s a big galaxy, and we’re coming off what was a major war with the First Order. And now, Rey has made a promise to Luke and that’s really the core of where we’re going and what this story will be.”
Kennedy continued, “And I think it offers just tremendous opportunity to introduce new characters and start with something fresh, because we culminated with what George [Lucas] was creating, and now we take all of that and move it to the next chapter.”
Next, Kennedy tied Obaid-Chinoy’s film to Mangold’s, “It was something that Jim [Mangold] immediately sparked to, and I think it’s a really nice compliment to what we’re doing with moving into the future with Rey, and then understanding a bit more of where this all came from. Because it will be at the heart of creating the new Jedi Order, so to get a real sense of where that might have began with the dawn of the Jedi could be pretty cool.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: Kathleen Kennedy onstage during the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Disney)
What do you make of Benioff and Weiss’ comments about Star Wars?
They went for the two birds in the bush option and see where they’ve landed.