Game of Thrones showrunners won’t make a Star Wars movie again after scrapped pitch: "There's less independence"

Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are not keen on returning to the world of Star Wars after their previous pitch was scrapped. The duo are busy with their latest Netflix sci-fi series 3 Body Problem, which they co-created with True Blood’s Alexander Woo, and are clear that that’s where their priorities lie at the moment.

As Benioff tells the Inside Total Film podcast and GamesRadar+, they like the independence of telling new stories. "No, I don't think so," he replies when asked if they’d consider working on Star Wars in the future. "I think you know, when you've got a franchise that's already so well established, like Star Wars or James Bond or so forth, I think there's less independence when you come in to try to tell a story that you want to tell and so I think what Dan [Weiss] and I have learned is that it's more fun for us to start something afresh."

The duo were previously attached to Star Wars and pitched a story to Lucasfilm about The First Jedi. However, speaking earlier this year, the pair said it wasn’t a story that the studio was keen to pursue. 

Benioff adds, referencing their work on 3 Body Problem, a new sci-fi epic based on a series of books: "Obviously, we're coming in on the shoulders of [author] Cixin Liu here, he's the one who created these novels and everything but because we're the ones adapting them, at least for the English language. We have a lot of flexibility in terms of the story we want to tell and that's a lot more fun for us than the other version."

3 Body Problem is out on Netflix now and follows a group of scientists dealing with some mysterious deaths in their community. As the conspiracy deepens, the group soon discovers that a decision made many years prior has changed the course of history forever.

Woo adds that they’re hopeful the show will run for several more seasons on Netflix. "Well, there’s three novels in the trilogy," he explains. "The novels get longer and longer so I wouldn't say it maps out exactly to three. We have some really strong ideas about what to do in a season two, and then it’s a little hazier down the line. But we want to get to the end."

And, as Weiss adds, the group is already mapping out a potential second season ahead of a potential renewal. "We don't have a second season, but we need to keep pushing forward full steam ahead as if we did," he adds. "Because if we do get a second season, we'll need to hit the ground running in terms of pre-production and production to get it out to people in some kind of reasonable time."

3 Body Problem is out on Netflix now. For our full conversation, listen to the Inside Total Film podcast, out now. For more on 3 Body Problem, check out our guides to 3 Body Problem season 2 and our spoiler-filled breakdown of the 3 Body Problem ending explained.