David Benioff and Dan Weiss Reveal Their Shelved Star Wars Idea: ‘The First Jedi’

So, what was David Benioff and Dan Weiss’ shelved Star Wars movie all about?

The Game of Thrones creators opened up about their efforts to make a Star Wars movie in this week’s The Hollywood Reporter‘s cover story about their upcoming Netflix sci-fi epic 3 Body Problem, which they created along with True Blood writer-producer Alexander Woo. The producers also discuss the backlash to Thrones‘ final season, their short-lived Confederate idea, their 3 Body producer’s bizarre Breaking Bad-inspired murder, and the many challenges that came from making their hugely ambitious new show.

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On the Star Wars front, the duo confirm media reports from 2019 that they were looking at the early days of the Jedi, but added some details.

“We wanted to do The First Jedi,” Benioff says. “Basically, how the Jedi Order came to be, why it came to be, the first lightsaber …”

“And we were annoyed as hell when [Rian Johnson, the duo’s longtime friend and 3 Body Problem producer] called his movie The Last Jedi,” Weiss says dryly. “He completely destroyed the obvious title for what we were working on.”

Asked what went wrong, Benioff says, “[Lucasfilm] ended up not wanting to do a First Jedi story. We had a very specific story idea in mind, and ultimately they decided they didn’t want to do that. And we totally get it. It’s their company and their IP, but we weren’t the droids they were looking for.”

The duo were far from the only ones that had their Star Wars movie taken away. Lucasfilm also decided against making Star Wars projects from top creatives like Kevin Feige, Patty Jenkins and Damon Lindelof.

Yet Benioff and Weiss’ overall concept still might happen — last year, Lucasfilm announced a movie titled Dawn of the Jedi from Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold.

Read THR’s full article for the rest of the story about Benioff and Weiss’ dramatic post-Thrones journey.

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