Next Star Wars Movie Coming From Game Of Thrones' Benioff And Weiss

Disney recently confirmed the release dates for much of its upcoming movie slate, including three Star Wars movies that will follow this December's Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. Although there will be a longer-than-usual wait (by recent standards) for the first post-Episode IX film, we now know who will be responsible for it. Disney has confirmed that Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will be making the first of these, which is set to arrive in 2022.

As reported by io9, this news was announced by Disney boss Bob Iger while was speaking at the MoffetNathanson Media & Communications summit in New York. It's not a big surprise, as it's been known for some time that Benioff and Weiss have been working on a new series of Star Wars films. However, it was not previously clear when their debut effort would arrive; Game of Thrones is only set to conclude this coming Sunday with Episode 6 of Season 8.

The new Star Wars movies will be released on December 16, 2022, December 20, 2024, and December 18, 2026. There are two sets of movies in development, one from Benioff and Weiss, and the other from The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson. It had been rumored that work on Benioff and Weiss's series was further along, and Star Wars Net recently reported that their first movie will begin production this fall. It has also been reported that their films will be set in the days of the Old Republic, hundreds of years before the events of the current movies.

It's notable that the Star Wars release schedule has slowed down. When the series relaunched in 2015 with The Force Awakens, Disney's plan was to release a movie each year. However, the commercial failure of 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story reportedly led to plans for further spin-offs to be cancelled, with Iger admitting that the movies so far had been released "a little too much, too fast." The new films will now be released every two years, alternating their December releases with James Cameron's Avatar sequels.

In related news, the live-action Star Wars show The Mandalorian premieres in the fall, when the streaming platform Disney+ launches. There is also a show focusing on the Rogue One character Cassian Andor in development for the service.