David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Will Not Go to a Galaxy Far, Far Away

FWIW

 

It seemed weird to me when they announced B&W would be working with Netflix. I was thinking why would Disney allow them to work on Star Wars AND do stuff for Netflix? I wonder if this wasn't perhaps in the works for a while.

 

Whats weird about this is you would expect that Disney would have signed them to a contract well before Netflix came around. I guess it may not be an exclusive contract, but should have some time frame where they had some sort of deliverable. Did NetFlix come in and wow them with some $ and Disney just let them out of the contract because they didnt want a bidding war?

 

It's like they had the perfect chance to learn this lesson with Josh Trank and Colin Trevorrow (although to be fair to Trevorrow, the other two in the trilogy turned out to actually direct their films, so 2/3 isn't terribly bad)...

No new thoughts. Just a smarmy post.

 

See, that might seem reasonable to you, but...

*puts on tinfoil hat*

As a seasoned GOT/ASOIAF fan, I think it's clear that Kathleen Kennedy was a big fan of Patchface from the books, and was mad that 2012's second GOT season completely excluded Stannis's jester, so she temporarily hired them just so she could fire them later. Kennedy sends her regards.

Joking aside, nice find!

 

Patchface?!?! PATCHFACE?!?!
She's a total Lady Stoneheart stan!

Oh god...maybe B&W weren't terrible and made some really smart cuts...whew.

 

See, somewhere out there in the multiverse there's a version of GOT where D&D added the amalgam character Lady Patchface, and I bet the denizens of that reality would appreciate what we got

 

This is like when Stephen King hates a successful adaptation of his books *cough*TheShining*cough* and then gets someone to make a more literal translation and it's well...........less successful to be nice.

 

Variety - ‘Star Wars’: Inside ‘Game of Thrones’ Creators’ Exit and the Pressures Facing Lucasfilm (EXCLUSIVE)

 

Interesting article and brings up what I believe is the primary motive. B&W dont want to deal with toxic fandom, well not until new material they create for Netflix that develops fans that will turn vitriolic when something doesnt go the way they want.

 

People should make better movies and TV shows. Nobody gets mad at Pixar and Disney Animation and to a lesser extent Marvel Studios. The question should be asked what is everybody else doing correct that they are not. SW needs family entertainers, not R-rated and TV-MA rated specialists. Oh and a showrunner to oversee all SW who loves the space fantasy genre in general, Lucasfilm still doesn't have that.

Whatever D&D make on Netflix will get far less viewers than Star Wars so whatever junk or non-junk they make will have less response positive or negative.

 

Yep. I defended some of their choices for GOT, but the desire to do spectacle over story, their inability to write (which became apparent after season 4)... their OWN admission that they took out as many of the fantasy elements as possible (from a show based on a set of fantasy novels no less). I could go on but I doubt it is needed.

And I TOTALLY agree with the idea that Star Wars needs a creative "show runner." Someone who is a fan of the IP and loves it. Personally I think there is someone like that already in the fold.

 

There is a right way to criticize a movie/show then there is a wrong way to do it. However this fandom gets it wrong far to often. This fandom has a poor history with treating the creators poorly (look at Ahmed Best). Hell it's partly the reason why George sold it in the first place. It's possible to say I dislike something without being an ass online about it.

 

Imagine thinking this is so easy? You go on to mention Marvel and Pixar. Neither one of those properties is burdened with 40 years of near religious myth building. Sure people read comic books, but most people have never picked one up. There's also a lot more creative flexibility.

The problem is not everyone agrees what Star Wars is about... that's why when Rian Johnson delivers a film more closely aligned to George Lucas' vision people are freaking out online about it because to them Star Wars means something complete different. That doesn't make them wrong, but you're never going to make everyone happy.

If Star Wars is going to have a future beyond nostalgic saga films they'll have to decide to embrace something at the expense of some fans. That will mean less money at the box office until they build something new.

 

The Fandom didn't do jack to Ahmed Best man. The media on the other hand, drove him to consider suicide. You seem to forget that in 1999 the internet was not what it is today. There was no twitter, no instagram, etc... The media, on the other hand, savaged that film and the character as well as the actor who portrayed him.

Do fans get outta hand? Sure. Welcome to 2019. Personally, if I were someone famous (and I thank God I'm not) I'd not have any social media accounts, or if I did I'd pay someone to run it for me.

I know B&W have let it be known that "fans" are part of their decision. However, they did this to themselves. They built up a great show, almost by accident (or through sheer dumb luck) and then by their own choice they chose to arbitrarily truncate it. If they weren't going to do the job right then why do it? Or, if they tired of it around season 4, why not hand it off? This last part is why I'm personally quite happy to see them leave Star Wars. Their head was turned and they believed all the press about them being geniuses. Again I wish them all the luck in the world (maybe I should wish Netflix all the luck in the world).

 

What's the difference? My point still stands.

 

Not based on the example you gave. Ahmed Best was not harassed by fans. There is a big difference between being harassed by "fans" on say Twitter, and professional media types on say CNN or The Hollywood Reporter. Heck, who cares what a few dipshit "fans "think when you have professional media types constantly bagging on you and the character you portray? It's a big difference. Even today it's easy to shut out the fools, but shutting out the professional media types is far more difficult.

Anyway, they are out. Will their Netflix stuff be more like seasons 1-4 of Game of Thrones, or more like the disaster that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine? I'd lay money on the fact they won't get anywhere close to what they had those first few seasons.

I do agree with @DailyPlunge that it isn't easy to develop these stories, and if it was then everyone would do it. BUT, they get paid VERY well for doing these things, so I do expect them to do it right. To do it well and to see the job through.

Finally, again this is killing me to agree with Daily (someone needs to do something about this ) but Star Wars needs to figure out what it is and what it wants to be. If they need to meet with George, then so be it. But they really need to do that and start planning for "phase 2" where they move away from the Skywalker Saga.

 

It was different 20 years ago so the social media aspect wasn't there, but pretty much any website that had a comments section was over run with people hating Jar Jar. Sites like Ain't It Cool News were huge back then so there's no way he was immune to the online discussions at the time. It was easier to ignore back then though.

This won't be a popular opinion, but Lucasfilm probably needs to get away from Lucas. His view of the force isn't really in line with modern superhero fandom. People want to see their force users being powerful and kicking ass. This isn't something I agree with, but I there's a desire to see more of that and less pacifism.