'Star Wars' Film From 'Game Of Thrones' Showrunners Confirmed To Follow 'The Rise Of Skywalker'

It's official: the next Star Wars film following The Rise of Skywalker will come from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Benioff and Weiss were already announced as being involved with a new Star Wars trilogy outside of the Skywalker Saga, but it wasn't clear which series would come next – the one from Beniof and Weiss, or the one from Rian Johnson. Now we know.

During today's MoffetNathanson Media & Communications summit, Walt Disney Company chairman Bob Iger confirmed that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss would be handling the next Star Wars film, due out in 2022. Iger confirmed the news while discussing the upcoming break the franchise is taking after The Rise of Skywalker:

"I haven't seen [Episode] 9 finished yet, but I'm confident based on the pieces that I've seen and the script that I've read that it's going to be extremely popular. [But we felt] that it would be smart of us to take a bit of a hiatus while we figure out what's next. Now we're not going to wait until [Episode] 9 is released and then start figuring it out. We're actually hard at work doing that already. The conclusion that we reached was three years was the proper amount of time to not only take a breather and reset, but to really gear up for the next films released. We did a deal with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who are famous for Game of Thrones, and the next movie we release will be theirs. And we're not saying anything more about that."

It was recently revealed that after The Rise of Skywalker opens in December, Star Wars would be taking a bit of a break from the big screen. Per that announcement:

With Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker bringing the original Skywalker Saga to its conclusion, three new as-yet-untitled Star Wars films will release on the pre-Christmas weekend every other year beginning in 2022. Four forthcoming Avatar films, expanding the vibrant world of Pandora, will release on the pre-Christmas weekend every other year beginning in 2021.

"In the summer of 1977 we traveled to a galaxy, far, far away, and we've been dreaming of it ever since. We are honored by the opportunity, a little terrified by the responsibility, and so excited to get started as soon as the final season of Game of Thrones is complete," David Benioff and D.B. Weiss said in a joint statement when the news of them joining the Star Wars universe was first announced.

There are no specific details about what the Benioff and Weiss trilogy will be about – we just know it will exist outside of the soon-to-conclude Skywalker Saga. It's also not clear if all three entries in Benioff and Weiss's trilogy will come in a row, or if Disney will alternate between the Benioff and Weiss trilogy and the Rian Johnson trilogy.

This news will no doubt cause some...feelings. Until recently, Benioff and Weiss seemed on top of the world due to the success of Game of Thrones. But this final season of Game of Thrones has proven to be more divisive than I think anyone guessed, and now some fans might be weary of their involvement with Star Wars. That said, it's worth noting the duo are only writing and producing the trilogy, and someone else will be directing. Three different directors might handle the trilogy as a whole, in fact. We'll see.

In the meantime, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens December 20, 2019.