From left: D. B. Weiss and David Benioff present the Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year. Photo : Getty Images

We’re going from Westeros to a galaxy far, far away. While speaking at the MoffetNathanson Media & Communications summit today, Walt Disney Company chairman Bob Iger confirmed that the next Star Wars film following The Rise of Skywalker will be from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, coming in 2022.


“We did a deal with David Benioff and D.B Weiss, who are famous for Game of Thrones, and the next movie that we release will be theirs,” Iger said. “And we’re not saying anything more about that.”

During the summit, Iger discussed the future of the Star Wars franchise in both film and television. Currently, two Star Wars shows are in the works for the new streaming platform, Disney+, but the company is planning on waiting three years between the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the next Star Wars film from Benioff and Weiss. Iger said the break was a deliberate choice on the part of the company, following the latest trilogy and two spinoff films, Solo and Rogue One.


“[We thought] it would be smart for us to take a bit of a hiatus while we figure out what’s next. Now, we’re not going to wait until [The Rise of Skywalker] is released and start figuring it out, we’re actually hard at work doing that already,” he said. “The conclusion that we reached was that three years was the proper amount of time to not only take a breather and reset, but to really gear up for the next film’s release.”

Last year, Disney announced that Benioff and Weiss would be writing and producing a new Star Wars series, which would be separate from the Skywalker saga. During his discussion, Iger only discussed the “next movie,” not a possible trilogy or series, so it’s unclear whether Benioff and Weiss are still working on a series, if they’re only doing one film, or if there will be another standalone film in between. This also leaves the future of Rian Johnson’s planned Star Wars trilogy uncertain, as we still haven’t heard when (or if) the first film in that previously announced series will debut.

Then, there’s the concern about how Benioff and Weiss will handle a Star Wars film or series, given the rising criticism about the final season of Game of Thrones—much of it centering around the writing and pace. The pair was also criticized after HBO announced they were starting a new series called Confederate, an alt-history saga that would explore life had the South had won the American Civil War. The project has been delayed, and its future is up in the air.

Benioff and Weiss’ Star Wars film is set to come out in 2022, with two more Star Wars film coming every other year through 2026. They’re set to alternate with James Cameron’s planned Avatar sequels, which start in 2021 and are expected to continue every other year through 2027.


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