New Star Wars films from Game of Thrones writers (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

Also, the projects announced (the Benioff/Weiss films and the Johnson films) have no details, only talent attached. Literally anything could happen with those projects.

Yeah, the whole point of announcing these this far out is so that Disney, Lucasfilm and Kennedy can look good for hiring buzzworthy people to continue the franchise, not because they have anything substantial to say about the direction of these projects ye.

 

[Bryan^H]

Grasping at straws.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Grasping at straws.

How so? I don't follow.

 

[Bryan^H]

I just don't like it. I can think of twenty names more suited for making Star Wars series of films.

What do I know, I bitch about it but ill most likely end up seeing them anyway.

 

[SamT]

They should have kept Emilia Clarke for these movies.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

I think this is terrific news. Given their work on GoT, I suspect they might be trying to crack a Knights if the Old Republic-type storyline.

The scale of GoT in and of itself is mighty impressive, but add to that a compelling story, very well written, and performed exceedingly well, I think it bodes well for the Star Wars universe if they can keep their creativity aligned with the powers that be!

 

[Jake Lipson]

Some interesting points in this article from Variety: http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/star-wars-new-series-column-cheapening-brand-1202691283/

 

[BobO'Link]

I don't know how I feel about this. I'm not that keen on any of the movies that were released after the original trilogy and generally like these last two, taken together, less than Eps. 1-3. I greatly enjoy GOT but also feel the writing and plotting have gone downhill ever since they ran out of books from which to draw dialog, staging, and plot. It's still better than most of what's on TV these days but also not as good as it was those first 5 seasons. Prior to GOT the pair really do not have much experience (so little that I often wonder how they got such a series on HBO). So that pretty much leaves me feeling "meh" about the news. Basically a "wait and see" attitude.

 

[The Autistic Asexual]

Everybody in Hollywood is signed up to do their own Star Wars trilogy now. Talk about too many cooks in the kitchen. That's what is killing the brand!!

 

[Jake Lipson]

Everybody in Hollywood is signed up to do their own Star Wars trilogy now.

That is a blatant exaggeration. Rian Johnson has one trilogy, and David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have another "series" (NOT termed a trilogy in the official announcement.) That is it. The other films that are in development are standalones like Obi-Wan and Boba Fett. And we don't even know which of these will actually get made. Certainly lots of things get put into development that don't make it all the way to the screen for on reason or another.

Talk about too many cooks in the kitchen.

I don't follow. These are going to be separate projects. Johnson will be in charge of his trilogy, and Benioff and Weiss (who work as a pair) will be in charge of theirs. That doesn't seem like too many cooks to me. Unless you mean that they are putting too many projects in development to begin with, which is a different argument than the one you are making. Also, it's important to note that we don't know what any of these projects actually are yet, or when we might see them, so it's a little early to be making judgments about them.

That's what is killing the brand!!

I don't see a brand being killed. I see a brand which has had three consecutive billion dollar grosses in three years, and only one underprformer in Solo. That doesn't scream "brand in crisis" to me. Certainly, Solo's failure to connect with a massive audience is something which Lucasfilm will analyze and take steps to avoid repeating going forward, but Star Wars as a brand is big enough to sustain one movie that didn't live up to expectations. I think you are greatly exaggerating the situation.

 

[ScottJH]

According to HBO executive Casey Bloys the Benioff & Weiss project is a trilogy.

https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2019/02/benioff-weiss-star-wars-trilogy.html

 

[Jake Lipson]

According to HBO executive Casey Bloys the Benioff & Weiss project is a trilogy.

How does she know that? I think everybody assumes that it's a trilogy because that's what Star Wars has always done, but since HBO is not involved in Star Wars, there's no reason she would know the specifics of their deal. It just means that they're not going to be able to work on new shows for HBO while they're doing Star Wars, but there's no reason she should know exactly what they were offered unless they told her. And I kind of doubt they would be allowed to disclose information about their Star Wars deal to HBO.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

How does she know that?

Well, she does talk to to Benioff & Weiss regularly.

 

[Sam Favate]

Rumors today that the first film by Benioff & Weiss will begin filming in the fall, for possible release late 2020. (That date seems optimistic.) The films by B&W will be set in the Old Republic and are described as Lord of the Rings/Game of Thrones meets Star Wars.

https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/201...he-skywalkers-to-begin-filming-this-fall.html

 

[JimmyO]

I was hoping that a new storyline wouldn't (yet again) go back into prequel territory.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I suppose "Old Republic" can mean anything from immediately before the prequels until a thousand years or so beforehand, but...

I'm finding it really hard to care.

It's kinda disappointing that so many things I've enjoyed over the years are coming back, whether it's Star Wars, Star Trek, Twin Peaks, etc., etc. But other than Twin Peaks, so many of these franchises returning have been going backwards, going into the minutiae of things we've already seen or known, and I just find that extremely limited as an audience member. Let's say these films end up being about the building of the Old Republic that we'll see in the prequels. Well, we already know that the Republic will fall. So why should I care about anything that happens? What compelling reason is there for me to invest my time in a fictional world where the outcomes are already predetermined and known before I've watched a single frame?

Maybe I'll be back here in a few years eating crow. I certainly think it's possible to come up with a compelling prequel idea. It's just that the bar is so much higher, and the restrictions are so much greater, that I don't really get it. I'd rather see more Star Wars movies that either continue the stories of characters we know and love, or stories that are about different ideas and conflicts than we've seen before that aren't beholden to previous stories -- and there just isn't a lot of room in the prequel form for that kind of storytelling.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I would love a great "golden age" Star Wars trilogy, set before the Empire made the universe so bleak and utilitarian. Just keep far enough away from the prequel trilogy that your ending isn't predetermined.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I would love a great "golden age" Star Wars trilogy, set before the Empire made the universe so bleak and utilitarian. Just keep far enough away from the prequel trilogy that your ending isn't predetermined.

Here's the thing I'm concerned about, and maybe I'm just thinking too broadly or whatever... but let's say this is really far away from the prequel trilogy, enough so that we don't even encounter any characters at all that we know. Let's say that the film's story arc is about establishing this noble republic.... are we still going to care even knowing that the whole thing is going to fall, and that all of their achievements will be undone?

 

[JimmyO]

That's my point exactly, that no matter how far we go back, the outcome is known. I mean, sure, they could explore the origins of the first lightsaber, and you could say "oh, cool."

But in the end it just seems like the easier way out. They would have to come up with new characters that we know nothing about. If that's the case, why not characters living in a future time where the outcome isn't known?

Too hard, I guess.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Here's the thing I'm concerned about, and maybe I'm just thinking too broadly or whatever... but let's say this is really far away from the prequel trilogy, enough so that we don't even encounter any characters at all that we know. Let's say that the film's story arc is about establishing this noble republic.... are we still going to care even knowing that the whole thing is going to fall, and that all of their achievements will be undone?

I think the noble republic will be the setting, not the focus.

It's like asking whether we'd care about Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar, because we know that the Roman Republic was on the verge of collapse, and the Western Roman Empire that succeeded it would fall several centuries later. If the characters are well-formed and compelling, and we care about their journeys and successes and failures, the larger political context becomes less important.