To put it lightly, a lot of Game of Thrones fans were left pretty upset with the show’s final season. The online backlash against those last eight episodes was so intense that it was even addressed by both members of the cast and also HBO on several occasions, with season 8 ending up as one of the most controversial swansongs in history.
Of course, much of the hate was in regards to how showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss failed to keep the quality of the writing up after the narrative of the series had passed the books. For Game of Thrones fans who also happened to love Star Wars, this became particularly concerning as Benioff and Weiss had been hired to both write and produce a brand new trilogy set in that galaxy far, far away.
But now it looks like plans have changed, as Deadline is reporting that the duo have walked away from their Star Wars trilogy. The details of why they’ve departed are still a bit hazy, but apparently their new Netflix deal has something to do with it, and in a statement to the outlet, here’s what they had to say:
“We love Star Wars. When George Lucas built it, he built us too. Getting to talk about Star Wars with him and the current Star Wars team was the thrill of a lifetime, and we will always be indebted to the saga that changed everything.”
Of course, we suspect that there’s more to the story here and it wouldn’t surprise us if Lucasfilm perhaps got cold feet about the pair after the frosty reception Game of Thrones season 8 received. That’s just some speculation on our part though and for now, we’ll have to wait and see what else emerges over the coming days about this.
And while news of Benioff and Weiss’ departure will no doubt make many fans happy, it’s certainly a shame that they’ve now walked away. For many years, they provided us with some of the best television ever, and though they certainly dropped the ball with the last batch of episodes of HBO’s hit fantasy drama, we were definitely excited to see what they’d be able to bring to that galaxy far, far away.
But alas, now we’ll never know. As Lucasfilm’s search for a replacement for Benioff and Weiss’ Star Wars trilogy gets underway though, we’ll be sure to keep you posted.