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Earlier today, we brought you the news that Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had stepped away from their Star Wars project so they could focus on their recent $200 million exclusive deal with Netflix.
However, according to We Got This Covered, industry sources have told them that the infamous Game of Thrones showrunners were actually fired by Lucasfilm.
Sources close to We Got This Covered – the same ones who said Marvel was considering recasting Hawkeye and Ewan McGregor was returning as Obi-Wan, both of which we now know to be true – told us that Benioff and Weiss were fired from the franchise, based on the heavily-publicized criticism that dogged the final season of Game of Thrones, as well as the fact that they had little idea on what they actually wanted to do with their trilogy, despite the first installment set to be released in 2022.
While initial reports indicated that the separation was a mutual one, it doesn’t necessarily come off as believable for a handful of reasons.
First and foremost, while many are pointing to the duo’s deal with Netflix as one of the reasons they’ve stepped away from Star Wars, their deal to travel to a galaxy far, far away was already in place prior to their agreement with Netflix, meaning they would have likely already weighed their options prior to linking an exclusive deal with the streaming giant.
Essentially, if they did truly decide to walk away from Star Wars months after signing a deal with Netflix, it means they either overestimated the task at hand or overestimated their abilities — neither of which is a good sign.
“We love Star Wars. 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,” the pair said to Deadline.
Additionally, why make this decision now? News of Benioff and Weiss heading to the Star Wars universe dropped all the way back in February 2018. You mean to tell me that after almost two years of working on their Star Wars project that they’ve just decided to walk away because they’ve suddenly realized the intensity of the workload?
Or, is it more likely that the powers that be have cooled their opinions on the pair over the course of the last 18 months and decided to get out while the gettin’ was good. But what could have possibly happened between now and then that could have swayed Disney’s opinion of the creative team? Hmmmmm…..
Frankly, it doesn’t matter if Benioff and Weiss were fired because their reputation has already been tainted. Whether it be their non-starter HBO follow-up Confederate or their departure from Star Wars, Benioff and Weiss are currently 0-for-2 outside of the Game of Thrones universe.
If I’m a big wig at Netflix’s already-hemorrhaging-money-offices, I’m certainly starting to sweat the fact that both HBO and Disney have decided against working with the pair going forward.
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Eric is a New York City-based writer who still isn’t quite sure how he’s allowed to have this much fun for a living and will tell anyone who listens that Gotham City is canonically in New Jersey. Contact him on Twitter @eric_ital or via email eric@brobible.com