In a shocker to 'Star Wars' fans, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss announced they are dropping out of Disney Lucasfilm's upcoming trilogy owing to their commitments to Netflix.
This comes over 18 months after Disney and Lucasfilm first announced that the 'Game of Thrones' showrunners were joining for a project which was scheduled to air in 2022.
"We love Star Wars. When George Lucas built it, he built us too," The Hollywood Reporter quoted the duo as saying in a statement.
"Getting to talk about Star Wars with him and the current Star Wars team was the thrill of a lifetime, and we will always be indebted to the saga that changed everything. But 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," they added.
Disney had earlier revealed that after the release of upcoming 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' in December, three untitled films from the franchise will be released after two years.
Benioff and Weiss were on board to write and produce the next to hit screens on December 16, 2022.
Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm president expressed hope to welcome the duo onboard in the future saying, "Benioff and Weiss are incredible storytellers. We hope to include them in the journey forward when they are able to step away from their busy schedule to focus on Star Wars."
The upcoming 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' is directed by JJ Abrams and is the last in the third trilogy of the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas which started in the year 1977 with 'Episode IV- A New Hope'.
( With inputs from ANI )