The galaxy far, far away is about to become a crowded one.
With news that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, creators and long-time showrunners of a little-known HBO drama called Game of Thrones, have agreed to spearhead a new Star Wars trilogy, Disney CEO Bob Iger has gone one step further to reveal that there are currently multiple TV shows brewing in development at the Mouse House.
This supposedly includes the live-action series that was announced back in November, while there’s also that fourth trilogy from The Last Jedi‘s Rian Johnson to consider. Details are scarce at the moment though, so it’s unclear whether every Star Wars series will adopt the live-action format – chances are at least one will release as an animation, given the success of Rebels and Forces of Destiny.
Here’s confirmation of that stealth announcement from Iger, courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter:
We are developing not just one, but a few Star Wars series specifically for the Disney direct to consumer app. We’ve mentioned that and we are close to being able to reveal at least one of the interties that is developing that for us. Because the deal isn’t completely closed, we can’t be specific about that. I think you’ll find the level of talent … on the television front will be rather significant as well.
As THR notes, these projects will eventually premiere via Disney’s forthcoming direct-to-consumer digital platform, which has already reserved slots for TV series based on Monsters, Inc. and High School Musical. A 2019 launch is on the cards, meaning the Mouse House has been pulling its Marvel features from Netflix – even if current properties in the vein of Daredevil will remain largely unaffected by this sea change.
Circling back to the appointment of Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the decision to draft in two rookie filmmakers to the Star Wars franchise has proved somewhat contentious among the community, as one would assume the Game of Thrones duo would be better suited to a small-screen project – thereby leaving the film trilogy open to, say, Patty Jenkins or Ava DuVernay.
Alas, Iger believes the new-fangled trilogy is in safe hands, all the while hinting that Benioff and D.B. Weiss are “focused on a point in time in the Star Wars mythology and taking it from there.” Cue the speculation.
Their interest was in creating a series of films that are Star Wars-based and we’ve actually been talking to them for a long time. To my knowledge they didn’t express interest in creating a series. They have an idea for number of films and at some later date I’m sure we’ll disclose to all of you just what those are. They are focused on a point in time in the Star Wars mythology and taking it from there.
Disney’s unnamed streaming platform, one that has been unashamedly angled as a direct competitor to Netflix, is expected to go live sometime in 2019 featuring at least one Star Wars TV show – presumably the live-action series. Next up for that galaxy far, far away though is the launch of Solo: A Star Wars Story on May 25th.