With screenwriter Gary Whitta having just left the 2016 Star Wars standalone film -- which is rumored to be a heist story about bounty hunters -- a new report indicates that the writing duties on the film will now go to Star Wars Rebels co-creator/writer Simon Kinberg.

Simon Kinberg | Photo by: Cherie Roberts

According to /Film , Kinberg -- who is a consultant on The Force Awakens, and also wrote X-Men: Days of Future Past -- is next in line to script the 2016 film. The site was unable to get official confirmation from Lucasfilm or Kinberg's representatives, however.

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Whitta reportedly already wrote the first draft of the film. As /Film notes, with the project set to shoot later this year, it makes sense that Lucasfilm would hire Kinberg to quickly rewrite the script as he is already heavily-involved in shaping the Disney-er a Star Wars universe.Kinberg was already confirmed to be writing a Star Wars spinoff, but it's unclear if that was always meant to be the 2016 standalone movie or if he's also on a separate Star Wars film.

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The first Star Wars standalone film, to be directed by Godzilla's Gareth Edwards, is set to bow on December 16, 2016.

Anthony Couto is a writer for IGN. He co-hosts a podcast about horrible movie sequels – called– which you can “like” on. Ponder with him on Twitter ator on IGN at