Star Wars fans’ dreams have finally come true: A Knights of the Old Republic movie is in the works. Three of them, actually.
According to BuzzFeed News, Lucasfilm has a new trilogy of films based on the super-popular 2003 video game in development from screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Alita: Battle Angel). Three separate, well-placed sources confirmed the news for BuzzFeed.
The news of this new trilogy of Star Wars films comes soon after Bob Iger confirmed that Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff will be writing a different trilogy for Disney. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy confirmed to MTV News at Star Wars Celebration in April that a Knights of the Old Republic was being looked at.
Weiss and Benioff’s first chapter in this new series is slated for release in 2022. Presumably, Kalogridis’ first Old Republic installment will be released sometime after that, as BuzzFeed reports that “Kalogridis is close to finishing the first script” for this potential trilogy.
The Old Republic game carved a significant amount of care space for fans, as it told the action-packed, epic story that takes place 4,000 years before the events of A New Hope. It centers on a Sith Lord, Darth Malak, and a cunning Jedi Knight by the name of Bastila Shan. Bringing this corner of the Star Wars Universe to the big screen — something fans haven’t really seen before from Lucasfilm — could be the creative shot in the arm the franchise needs as Lucasfilm plans to wrap up the current saga with December’s The Rise of Skywalker. Director J.J. Abrams’ trilogy capper will conclude the Skywalker storyline, which started with the 1977 original Star Wars, reached back with the three George Lucas-directed prequels, and continued with The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. That’s nine movies total about a farm boy who grew up to be a Jedi. It’s time for something new from the house that Luke built.
Kalogridis is a formidable sci-fi screenwriter who makes world-building look effortless in her scripts. To say she is a perfect fit for this project would be an understatement.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters December 20.
