For the second time since Disney started working on its own Star Wars movies, a writer is leaving. Gary Whitta, who was hired to write Gareth Edwards’ spin-off, has left.
Back on Friday, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Whitta, who wrote the Denzel Washington movie The Book of Eli, was leaving Edwards’ standalone Star Wars spin-off. He is reportedly leaving to work on other projects, which could include Fox’s Starlight, which is based on Mark Millar’s comic series.
The departure appears to be amicable, as both Edwards and Whitta sounded optimistic about the film.
“Gary has been a wonderful, inspired contributor and I enjoyed working with him tremendously,” Edwards told THR in a statement. “I’m so grateful for all of his contributions.”
“As a lifelong Star Wars fan I’m deeply grateful to have had the rare opportunity to contribute to a new chapter in its ongoing cinematic legacy,” Whitta added. “The film is going to be amazing.”
Lucasfilm and Disney didn’t say who would replace Whitta.
Edwards, who directed last year’s successful Godzilla reboot, was hired to direct the first Star Wars spin-off in May 2014. The film is scheduled for release on Dec. 16, 2016, a year after Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens. Disney has still not said what or who this film will be about officially.
The Force Awakens also had to deal with a writer change. Little Miss Sunshine’s Michael Arndt was first hired to write that film, but he later left after writing a treatment. Director J.J. Abrams brought in Lawrence Kasdan to write the script with him.
There has been a critical error on your website.<\/p>
Learn more about debugging in WordPress.<\/a><\/p>","data":{"status":500},"additional_errors":[]}