Game Of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have stepped down from their upcoming Star Wars films.
Earlier this year, the duo were announced to be helming a new Star Wars trilogy, which had been set to launch in 2022.
However, David and D.B. – who recently faced a huge backlash over the divisive final season of Game Of Thrones – have now amicably severed ties with Star Wars, admitting they have too much on their plate already to give the sci-fi franchise the attention it deserves.
“We love Star Wars. When George Lucas built it, he built us too,” the pair said in a joint statement. “Getting to talk about Star Wars with him and the current Star Wars team was the thrill of a lifetime, and we will always be indebted to the saga that changed everything.
“But 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.”
Kathleen Kennedy, the president of production company Lucasfilms, said the door is open for the “incredible storytellers” to return in the future, claiming: “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.”
Over the summer, David and D.B. signed a new deal to develop new projects for Netflix, set to be worth around £155 million.
The pair were also supposed to have been developing a new show for HBO – where Game Of Thrones originally aired in the US – which imagined a world where slavery had not been abolished.
It has since been suggested that this controversial project would no longer be going ahead.
