David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the minds behind HBO's Game of Thrones, appear to have another hit series on their hands after the first set of positive reviews for Netflix's new sci-fi series, 3 Body Problem. However, the pair was at one time set to join the Star Wars universe with their own film trilogy that ultimately fell through, and the pair elaborate as to why they likely won't work with Lucasfilm again.
From dragons to lightsabers
The pair sat down with Games Radar to discuss their new Netflix series when the conversation eventually veered toward their scrapped Star Wars trilogy pitch in 2018. When asked if they could see themselves working with Lucasfilm again despite the scrapped pitch, they said they “don't think so.”
“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,” Benioff said.
In 2018, Disney and Lucasfilm announced the duo behind Game of Thrones would be venturing to a galaxy far, far away when the series ended in 2019 to head-up a new Star Wars trilogy. It was rumored at the time the pair's trilogy would be set during The Old Republic and the first Jedi, though there was never any direct confirmation about them.
However, things reportedly fell through very quickly after Game of Thrones wrapped.
Reports began to emerge of “creative differences” in late-2019 when “visions for the film” began to deviate between Benioff and Weiss and Lucasfilm. In addition, there were said to be issues over the pair's massive $250 million deal to produce films and series for Netflix at a time when Disney Plus and HBO Max were preparing to launch.
Benioff and Weiss were also rumored to be “hesitant” about signing up for a Star Wars project due to the “toxic fandom” which had harassed multiple stars of the sequel trilogy including John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran.
Tudum
The pitched trilogy was ultimately scrapped and Benioff and Weiss put all their focus into Netflix, with 3 Body Problem being the first series to come from the massive 2019 deal. The pair were excited for audiences to see their vision for the series and the freedom they had bringing the sci-fi novel to life.
“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,” Benioff said. “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.”
Lucasfilm ultimately circled back to the reported pitch's setting and focus on the first Jedi, though with James Mangold at the helm.
3 Body Problem is available to stream on Netflix.
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