Game of Thrones show runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are walking away from the trilogy of Star Wars movies they were going to make for Disney’s Lucasfilm. The films were set to be released in theaters in December 2022, 2024, and 2026, but will no longer be happening.

Benioff and Weiss are blaming schedule conflicts from their nine-figure Netflix deal as the reasoning for walking away from new Star Wars trilogy of films.

“There are only so many hours in the day, and we felt we could not do justice to both Star Wars and our Netflix projects. So we are regretfully stepping away.”

Deadline broke the story and has quotes from the pair who expressed their love for Star Wars, “Getting to talk about Star Wars with [George Lucas] and the current Star Wars team was the thrill of a lifetime, and we will always be indebted to the saga that changed everything.”

A cynical part of me wonders if there is more to the story and that the Netflix deal is being blamed as a cover story, but recently we heard that the extensive Netflix deal might prevent the duo from writing all three Star Wars scripts, but it looks like it will end up preventing them from making the films altogether. The movies were expected to take place in a different part of the Star Wars timeline, with speculation that it could involve the Old Republic era.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy released a statement saying, “David Benioff and Dan Weiss are incredible storytellers. We hope to include them in the journey forward when they are able to step away from their busy schedule to focus on Star Wars.”

The trilogy of films were announced in February 2018, and later given dates on the release calendar. They would have been the next Star Wars films to hit the big screen following the epic conclusion of the Skywalker saga with J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. What now does that mean for the future of Star Wars?

The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson also is developing a trilogy of Star Wars films, but those movies were being planned for production later in the timeline. Recently it was revealed that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige approached Kathleen Kennedy with an idea for a new Star Wars movie that he wanted to produce for Lucasfilm. Neither of those projects are supposedly far enough along in development, but there have been rumblings that other Star Wars movie projects that we don’t know about are further in development. But for right now, the future of Star Wars is very unclear.

The post BREAKING: ‘Game of Thrones’ Directors David Benioff & D.B. Weiss No Longer Making ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy appeared first on /Film.