Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have spoken for the first time about why their plans for a new Star Wars movie were scrapped.
In 2018 it was announced that the writing and producing duo would be creating a new trilogy of films in the Star Wars universe, but the following year they officially left the multi-million pound deal to concentrate on their Netflix commitments.
Since then, they have remained pretty quiet about these cancelled plans, but in an in-depth interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the pair have opened up about the project and why it disappeared.
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"We wanted to do The First Jedi," Benioff said. "Basically how the Jedi Order came to be, why it came to be, the first lightsaber…
"And we were annoyed as hell when [Rian Johnson] called his movie The Last Jedi. He completely destroyed the obvious title for what we were working on."
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While their annoyance at long-time friend Johnson is clearly in jest, Benioff continued to explain what actually happened with the scrapped project.
He said: "[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."
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While Benioff and Weiss won't be heading to a galaxy far, far away, they are back with their newest project – Netflix series 3 Body Problem, which premieres this March.
First announced back in 2020, the show is an adaptation of sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem and stars Watchmen's Jovan Adepo and Marvel's Benedict Wong.
The series takes place across two periods of time, and we follow both astrophysicist Ye Wenjie (played by Zine Tseng) who is conscripted into the Chinese military following the Cultural Revolution, and a group of scientists in the present day who are trying to find out why the laws of nature have started to unravel.
Benioff and Weiss will also reunite with former Game of Thrones stars John Bradley, Liam Cunningham and Jonathan Pryce for the new series.
3 Body Problem will premiere worldwide on Netflix on March 21, 2024.
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Soaps Writer, Digital Spy and Inside Soap
After studying for an English degree at the University of Exeter, Erin completed a PPA-accredited Masters in Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University. She first joined the Digital Spy team in late 2023, writing across both news and features.
Erin is a fan of all things TV, from comedy and drama to reality TV and soaps.
