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After sealing one of the most career-defining deals in entertainment—and just one day after admitting that they essentially shrugged their way through a good portion of the creative process behind Game Of Thrones—creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have officially stepped away from their deal with Disney’s Lucasfilm, per Deadline. The pair was scheduled to present a post-Skywalker era trilogy for 2022. But with a shiny new Netflix deal in their presumably hefty pockets, there simply isn’t enough time to dedicate to Star Wars, which they confirmed in a statement to Deadline:

“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.”


Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy followed their statement with one of her own, giving the impression that the door was still ajar for Benioff and Weiss to reenter the galaxy far, far away whenever their schedules were less hectic: “David Benioff and Dan Weiss are incredible storytellers,. We hope to include them in the journey forward when they are able to step away from their busy schedule to focus on Star Wars.” Lucasfilm has maintained a deep bench of potential collaborators like Rian Johnson and J.J. Abrams, but the vacancy also provides an opportunity to tap a new well of inclusive talent. It’ll probably take Kennedy a moment to announce a new captain of this particular ship: With both The Rise Of Skywalker and streaming mammoth Disney+ (and The Mandalorian) on their way, Lucasfilm is kind of busy.