A Star Wars film series was announced by Lucasfilm in 2018 with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the creators and showrunners of HBO's Game of Thrones, set to write and produce entries in the series, with the first film originally planned to release on December 16, 2022. However, in 2019, Benioff and Weiss departed the project. The first film's release slot was eventually given to the film Rogue Squadron. On January 10, 2024, Benioff and Weiss confirmed in an interview with THR that Lucasfilm ultimately passed on the project.
Prior to the announcement of the film series, Star Wars creator George Lucas visited the set of Game of Thrones's eighth and final season to give advice to writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. The film series was publicly announced by Lucasfilm on February 6, 2018 on StarWars.com. In the statement, Benioff and Weiss expressed how honored they felt to be working on the series, and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy praised their storytelling prowess.
On April 12, 2019, during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter at Celebration Chicago, Kennedy mentioned that recently, she, Benioff, Weiss, and director Rian Johnson met to "lock down" their plans for their future Star Wars films. In another Celebration interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kennedy mentioned that Benioff and Weiss would be "working very closely" with Johnson. Additionally, Kennedy mentioned that the future slate of Star Wars films, including entries in this film series, could be set far in the past or far in the future with relation to the Skywalker saga.
In the summer of 2019, Benioff and Weiss met with George Lucas in Italy to research the film. However, on October 28, 2019, it was reported that Benioff and Weiss had exited the film series due to scheduling conflicts with an overall deal the pair had signed with Netflix, Inc. Two days later, Variety reported that the plans Benioff and Weiss had for the film series involved the exploration of the origins of the Jedi, a concept that later was announced to be at the center of James Mangold's forthcoming Star Wars film. The Hollywood Reporter disputed the claims that Benioff and Weiss departed solely due to scheduling conflicts and instead saying that Kennedy was "said to have been unhappy with the Netflix deal" and was not convinced the duo "could develop a sci-fi trilogy while also overseeing film and TV projects at Netflix." Additionally, they claimed that the pair's departure from the series happened around August of 2019.
Officially, Lucasfilm never commented on Benioff and Weiss's departure, though the original press release for the film series was removed from StarWars.com. On January 10, 2024, Benioff and Weiss revealed that their Star Wars project, beginning with The First Jedi, was focused on exploring how the Jedi Order began, why it began, and exploring the first lightsaber. Benioff and Weiss confirmed that Lucasfilm ultimately passed on the project and were not interested. Despite this, a Star Wars film by James Mangold is set to explore the dawn of the Jedi.
In September 2018, Bob Iger said that there would be a "slowdown" on the release of Star Wars films, because he felt there had been "a little too much, too fast."
On May 7, 2019, Disney released its 2020–2027 theatrical release schedule, with a Star Wars film scheduled for December 16, 2022. The Star Wars Show also reported on the news on May 15. On May 14, Iger confirmed that Benioff and Weiss's first film would take this release slot.
After the pair's departure from the project, the release slot stayed on Disney's calendar and was delayed to December 22, 2023 after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. On December 10, 2020, Lucasfilm revealed that the release slot was given to the film Rogue Squadron. Lucasfilm ultimately passed on the project helmed by Benioff and Weiss.