It would seem that no one at Lucasfilm or Disney is watching this season of Game Of Thrones because Bob Iger has confirmed that the next Star Wars movie will be from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. As reported by iO9, Iger confirmed Twitter’s worst fears at the MoffetNathanson Media & Communications summit (it’s a thing for rich people, don’t worry about it). Following this December’s release of Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker—which will conclude the Skywalker family saga—Lucasfilm will take a little breather from releasing any new Star Wars movies until 2022. Benioff and Weiss aren’t the only creators cooking up a new Star Wars trilogy; The Last Jedi’s Rian Johnson is also developing a trilogy for Lucasfilm. It’s unclear how that project fits into the company’s plans—or if it’s still in the works at all.
“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.” (To be read in the cadence of Forrest Gump.) It’s worth noting that Iger referred to Benioff and Weiss’ Star Wars project as “the next movie,” leaving quite a bit open to speculation—perhaps Benioff and Weiss are only developing the story, or they’re only working on the first film. Maybe they’re doing a one-off. As Game Of Thrones has proven, the long game doesn’t appear to be their strong suit. Iger made no mention of Johnson or of any other plans beyond the Benioff and Weiss film (singular, for now). Given Lucasfilm’s history with filmmakers (see: Colin Trevorrow, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, et al.), it’s entirely possible that Benioff and Weiss’ detractors won’t be unhappy about this news for too long.