Today in Star Wars rumors: Disney may have already found the writers it wants for Episodes 8 and 9
Although most of the Star Wars chatter on the Internet so far has focused on the first film and which directors have refused to touch it, Deadline reminds us that there are still at least two other new movies in the works that we can get all worked up about with speculation on who might handle them, even though they're several years off and we could all be dead by then. But setting that aside for the moment, the site passes along rumors that Episodes 8 and 9 may have already found writers. Most intriguing of all, one of them may be Lawrence Kasdan, which is as good enough a reason to talk about this like it might actually happen.
Kasdan—the Raiders Of The Lost Ark writer whose work on the screenplays for The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi involved suggesting to George Lucas that maybe the characters could engage in natural dialogue with each other, like actual humans do—has reportedly been approached about revisiting the franchise he fleshed out, and similarly handed the job of scripting the follow-up to Michael Arndt's Episode 7. Meanwhile, Disney has also reportedly reached out to Sherlock Holmes and X-Men: Days Of Future Past writer Simon Kinberg about working on the Episode 9 already mapped out by Lucas, and lending his all-around familiarity with genre films. (In fact, Kinberg's production company is simply named "Genre Films.") Of course, this is not nearly as interesting as Lawrence Kasdan's possible involvement, so here's a dog with a lightsaber.
Anyway, as with all Star Wars news right now, this is just rumor-mongering—albeit potentially intriguing rumor-mongering—and no offers have been officially made. Still, it serves as a reminder that it's apparently never too early to begin speculating beyond 2015 to all the other Star Wars movies to come, and what probably nitrogen-based life forms will make them.