Disney chief confirms next Star Wars movie will be from Game of Thrones creators

Luke, use the Valyrian Steel...

After The Rise of Skywalker arrives this winter, Disney and Lucasfilm will be taking a three-year hiatus from the world of Star Wars. Once that break is up, however, they're warping back to lightspeed to that galaxy far, far away.

While speaking at the MoffettNathanson 6th Annual Media & Communications Summit in New York Tuesday, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that the first movie to follow The Rise of Skywalker will be from the minds of David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Of course, these two are best known for creating and showrunning HBO's Game of Thrones, which wraps up for good this Sunday.

"The conclusion that we reached is that three years was the proper amount of time to not only take a breather and to reset, but to really gear up for the next film's release. The next movie that we release will be theirs," said Iger, talking about Weiss and Benioff. "We're not saying anything more about that [right now]."

Their hiring by Lucasfilm was announced last winter with the two releasing the following statement: 

"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."

At the New York summit, Iger also talked about the two live-action Star Wars shows coming to Disney+ (launching Nov. 12), Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian and the untitled Cassian Andor series that serves as a prequel to Rogue One. However, he also hinted at a third mystery Star Wars project for the streaming service, stating:

"My guess is there will probably be one more; at least one more live-action series that we produce ... before we release the next film ... I believe that these TV series will be extremely popular for Star Wars fans and very, very valuable for Disney+ while we gear up for the next set of films."

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker — aka Episode IX — hits theaters Dec. 20. While Iger hasn't seen the finished movie just yet, he is very confident based on the script (written by Chris Terrio and director J.J. Abrams) and bits of footage he has seen so far.

Benioff and Weiss's film will debut on Dec. 16, 2022, going head-to-head with Aquaman 2, although it is likely that Warner Bros. could push off their sequel, so as not to compete with Disney at the box office. In addition, it broaches the question of where Rian Johnson's new trilogy stands after he directed Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.

What do you think of this latest development? Sound off in the comments below!