Godzilla director and Walking Dead game writer come together for Star Wars

By Adam Rosenberg Published May 22, 2014

star wars supercut video alphabetizes every word spinoff news — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Godzilla director Gareth Edwards and The Walking Dead: The Game writer Gary Whitta are set to direct Lucasfilm’s first spin-off feature to follow Star Wars: Episode VII. It’s the first in what the press release refers to as “multiple stand-alone movies that will offer new stories beyond the core Saga.” The Edwards/Whitta collaboration is set to hit theaters on December 16, 2016, two days shy of a year after director J.J. Abrams’ Episode VII kicks off this new chapter for the series.

Edwards is all over the news in recent weeks as the director of Godzilla, his modern take on the 1954 classic. He won the gig after making his debut in 2010’s Monster, a giant creature feature with a human focus.

Recommended Videos

Whitta, a self-described Star Wars fan, is perhaps best known in the gaming community for his work on Telltale Games’ Walking Dead series, based on the Robert Kirkman comics. Like Edwards, he made his big screen debut in 2010. He wrote the Denzel Washington/Mila Kunis-starring sci-fi action flick The Book of Eli.

“Ever since I saw Star Wars I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life – join the Rebel Alliance! I could not be more excited & honored to go on this mission with Lucasfilm,” Edwards said in a statement.

Whitta shares the director’s excitement. “From the moment I first saw the original movie as a wide-eyed kid, Star Wars has been the single most profound inspiration to my imagination and to my career as a writer,” he said in a statement. “It is deeply special to me, so to be given the opportunity to contribute to its ongoing legacy, especially in collaboration with a film-maker as talented as Gareth, is literally a dream come true. I’m still pinching myself.”

Word of the spin-offs has been circulating for some time, most recently with three confirmed to be in development by Disney — Lucasfilm’s owner — CEO Bob Iger during an earnings call. Bounty hunter Boba Fett, Jedi Master Yoda, and a younger take on series lead Han Solo are all rumored to be a focus for one or more of the spin-offs, but the Edwards/Whitta announcement offers no additional details. We will have to wait to find out which spinoff will come first.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

Entertainment

The Acolyte can’t escape Star Wars’ biggest Jedi problem

Sol stands between Jecki and Yord in The Acolyte.

Across its first three episodes, The Acolyte has gotten off to a propulsive, if imperfect, start. The series, created by Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland, is one of the only truly original (i.e., not a spinoff) pieces of Star Wars media that Disney has produced in the 12 years since it acquired Lucasfilm. As depressing as that is in and of itself, it's also helped The Acolyte. The show, for all of its flaws, feels fresh. It isn't weighed down or suffocatingly constricted by the events of any other Star Wars movie or TV show and, therefore, has the freedom to explore its characters and plot exactly how it wants.

That doesn't mean The Acolyte has been able to completely avoid making the same mistakes as all of the Star Wars titles that have come before it. On the contrary, the series, which focuses on the reemergence of the Sith near the end of the High Republic era, has struggled in its depiction of the Jedi Order. The Acolyte has, consequently, revived an issue that has plagued its franchise ever since 1999's Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace.
Are the Jedi cool samurai or boo-worthy space cops?

Entertainment

10 best Star Wars shows ever, ranked

Diego Luna walks through a scrapyard of ships in a scene from Andor.

Prior to the launch of Disney+ in 2019, there were no Star Wars live-action shows, and only a handful of animated series. The earliest Star Wars cartoons from the '80s, Droids and Ewoks, barely resembled anything from the movies. Decades later, Star Wars: The Clone Wars provided the blueprint for the franchise's animation resurgence, which in turn helped pave the way for The Mandalorian and the rest of the live-action shows.

To celebrate the release of The Acolyte, we're taking a look back at the 10 best Star Wars shows ever. But we reserve the right to revise our listings as more Star Wars series arrive on Disney+ in the future.
10. The Book of Boba Fett

Entertainment

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is better and worse than you remember

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan duel Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

This month marks the 25th anniversary of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace. The film, the opening installment in George Lucas' Prequel Trilogy, was the first Star Wars movie in 16 years when it was released. Shortly after it hit theaters in May 1999, though, it became the target of a lot of vitriol and criticism. Star Wars fans went into it expecting a prequel that felt of a piece with the franchise's Original Trilogy. Instead, what they got was a CGI-heavy, polished, and unexpectedly stiff epic about, among other things, child slavery, trade laws, and senatorial politics. In a lot of ways, the film couldn't have been more different from 1977's swashbuckling, fairy tale-like Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope.

Over the past few years, a lot of Star Wars fans have adopted a much kinder tone when discussing The Phantom Menace and its fellow prequels. That's been due, in no small part, to the lackluster quality of Disney's Sequel Trilogy. For many of the viewers who were introduced at a young age to Star Wars through the prequels, the films also hold a special, nostalgic place in their hearts. With that in mind and, in honor of its forthcoming anniversary, it's worth asking: Is The Phantom Menace really as bad as so many fans remember? Or is it as good as some of its younger supporters believe?