Star Wars: New details shared on Benioff and Weiss departure; It’s for the best

Recent trade articles shed more light on David Benioff and D.B. Weiss leaving Lucasfilm. Perhaps it’s a blessing to get more diverse voices creating Star Wars.

I had a number of thoughts on David Benioff and D.B. Weiss leaving Star Wars before two pieces providing more details were published on Wednesday.

One by Variety and another by The Hollywood Reporter painted Lucasfilm in a poor light. According to the reports by unnamed sources, the parting of Benioff and Weiss, and Lucasfilm – specifically Kathleen Kennedy – was not amicable despite the initial statement from both sides.

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Variety points out several factors at play:

• Creative issues between Lucasfilm and Benioff & Weiss were a contributing factor to the break up
• These creative issues have been an ongoing issue with Kennedy and others such as Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Colin Trevorow and Josh Trank.
• Benioff and Weiss’ Netflix deal really created an issue since the creators had already been penned to work on a Star Wars trilogy.

Then looking at The Hollywood Reporter article, it states:

• Kennedy and company were concerned with the time and effort Benioff and Weiss would have been able to give to Star Wars given their new contract.
• Benioff and Weiss were also having some doubts due to a  “toxic fandom.”

While there may be some truth to what was written, there are other concerns I have. The news that Benioff and Weiss were no longer part of Star Wars was big, so it’s natural entertainment outlets would seek to find out more to the story.

Yet both articles paint Benioff and Weiss in an incredibly positive light while staking all the blame for their departure on Kennedy and the fans.

So here are my issues: if Benioff and Weiss were shopping this mega deal from the likes of Netflix, why would they take on Star Wars? An obvious answer is that it’s Star Wars and tackling one of the greatest franchises is hard to pass up.

However, their recent panel at the Austin Film Festival where they essentially said they had no idea how they even got Game of Thrones off the ground and they managed to constantly fail up didn’t instill confidence in the fans.

There is a portion of the fan base that is critical and downright rude, but to blame them for why you wouldn’t want to work on a project seems disingenuous. It feels like someone who is constantly pointing fingers in every direction but themselves — and also all the “sources” likely came from inside Benioff and Weiss’ camp.

Even though this news is not what Lucasfilm wants to deal with at the time because the start of the next trilogy was slated for 2022, this actually gives the company an amazing opportunity to bring in new and diverse creators rather than fishing from the same pond over and over.

Benioff and Weiss leaving is actually a blessing for Lucasfilm. After their panel, my confidence in them continued to wane and I was growing increasingly worried about what they would be able to produce. Instead, this gives Lucasfilm a chance to wipe the slate clean and build with fresh, new voices.

What do you think of the news? There’s a lot to process here.