The Canceled Star Wars Movie From The Game Of Thrones Creators Was Going To Be About The First Jedi
After "Game of Thrones" became an unprecedented worldwide phenomenon, the world was David Benioff and D. B. Weiss's oyster. The showrunners were going to create an alt-history slavery drama for HBO (which sounded absolutely awful), and they even had a deal to make their own "Star Wars" trilogy rumored to be set in the Old Republic era, back when seemingly everyone was getting their own "Star Wars" movie.
But then the final season of "Game of Thrones" was nearly universally hated, and the duo lost both their HBO show and their "Star Wars" trilogy. (Granted, they weren't alone in that last part, as Lucasfilm has scrapped "Star Wars" projects by everyone from Kevin Feige to Patty Jenkins.)
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the release of their new TV adaptation, "3 Body Problem," Benioff and Weiss addressed their canned "Star Wars" project, which was going to go back to the very beginning.
"We wanted to do The First Jedi," Benioff said. "Basically how the Jedi Order came to be, why it came to be, the first lightsaber..." It seems "The First Jedi" was actually going to be the title, which made the release of Rian Johnson's "The Last Jedi" bad news for the duo. "He completely destroyed the obvious title for what we were working on," added Weiss. (The duo is apparently friends with Johnson, so I don't imagine there's any bad blood over the title.)
According to Benioff, Lucasfilm ended up not wanting to tell the story of the first Jedi. "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 origins of the Jedi
Granted, Lucasfilm eventually changed their thoughts on a first Jedi story, because that is exactly what they tapped James Mangold to do for his upcoming "Star Wars" movie. The new movie is titled "Dawn of the Jedi," and Mangold has teased it to be the "Star Wars" equivalent of a biblical epic, telling the story of the first Jedi and of the Force.
Clearly, Lucasfilm has significant interest in going back to the very beginning of the Jedi. For fans of the Old Republic, the good news is that the era is still part of the official "Star Wars" timeline, and given we've seen the Rakata teased in "Andor," and the introduction of an entire new galaxy in "Ahsoka," there's plenty of room from which to mine lore and additional stories.
What makes the concept of "Dawn of the Jedi" intriguing is that it is separated from the rest of the "Star Wars" movies by millennia, meaning it gives Mangold a completely clean slate to tell a story unburdened by canonical characters and events. Even the Old Republic era is so familiar to fans from the comics and the games that there is a risk of having to include that stuff in some way (or change it). Plus, if this eventual movie is anything like the "Dawn of the Jedi" comic series, there's potential for some incredible storytelling here. Benioff and Weiss's vision may have fallen by the wayside, but at least we'll get to see that period explored on screen — assuming Mangold's film doesn't get scrapped, too.