After his success with Godzilla, big things are in store for director Gareth Edwards, and things don’t get much bigger than Star Wars.
It has just been announced on the official Star Wars website that Godzilla director Gareth Edwards will direct the first stand-alone Star Wars film from a script written by Gary Whitta. The film will be released on December 16, 2016.
Disney revealed last year that the plan was to release a new Star Wars movie every calendar year. Edwards’ stand-alone movie will come in between Star Wars: Episode VII and Episode VIII.
The subject of the stand-alone Star Wars film is currently unknown. It has previously been rumored that spinoffs could center around a young Han Solo, Boba Fett, and Yoda, but those are far from confirmed. Previous reports have suggested that Episode VII co-screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg have been working on stand-alone scripts, and perhaps those movies will come in 2018 and 2020.
“Ever since I saw Star Wars I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life – join the Rebel Alliance! I could not be more excited & honored to go on this mission with Lucasfilm,” Edwards said in a statement today.
Edwards has received critical praise for his work on Godzilla, the job that ultimately was the reason he landed this one. In our review, we said “Steven Spielberg may finally have a worthy successor in Gareth Edwards.” Godzilla made it clear that Edwards knows how to handle big blockbusters, and he will bring his enormous talent to the Star Wars franchise.