News has come out today that writer Gary Whitta has finished his work on the first “Star Wars” standalone film due to come out on December 16th 2016. There has been some confusion as to whether Gary Whitta has just simply finished his script for the movie and is now moving on to another project, or if Lucasfilm will be looking for a new writer to take over. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting the latter, saying “Gary Whitta is no longer writing a Star Wars standalone movie.” Whatever the case may be, Gary Whitta is definitely done, as the The Hollywood Reporter has quotes from both Gary Whitta himself, and director Gareth Edwards about his work on the project:
Gareth Edwards– “Gary has been a wonderful, inspired contributor and I enjoyed working with him tremendously. I’m so grateful for all of his contributions. ”
Gary Whitta– “The year I spent working with Lucasfilm on this Star Wars film has been by far the most rewarding period of my entire career. 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. The film is going to be amazing.”
Gary Whitta also took to twitter to say how great it was to be working on a new “Star Wars” movie for the past year, which may lead you o believe that he has simply just finished the script.
My year of work in a galaxy far, far away is done! I’m onto my next project, adapting @mrmarkmillar’s STARLIGHT for 20th Century Fox!
— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) January 10, 2015
This is by far the most I’ve ever enjoyed writing a title page. See you in 2016! #MTFBWY pic.twitter.com/Wr3Ij1XUKj
— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) January 10, 2015
If Gary Whitta is indeed being replaced as the writer, this would be the second time this has happened with these new movies, as Michael Arndt was later replaced as the script writer for Episode VII by J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan.
No official word about this from Lucasfilm or Disney yet, but with production about to start soon on first standalone film, we should be hearing more information about the movie sooner rather than later.
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