Steven Knight In? Damon Lindelof, Justin Britt-Gibson Exit – Variety

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“Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight is set to write the script for the untitled “Star Wars” movie to be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”), as original writers Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson have leave work, Variety has confirmed.

The film is widely expected to be among Lucasfilm’s first “Star Wars” films after 2019’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” More information about the film, including a possible title, is expected to be announced at Star Wars Celebration in London in April. (A Lucasfilm representative did not respond to a request for comment.)

Knight is a veteran screenwriter who began his career specializing in serious crime dramas such as 2002’s “Dirty Pretty Things” and 2007’s “Eastern Promises,” eventually evolving into action dramas (2014’s “The Hundred-Foot Journeys” (20) Allied’), and biographies (2021’s ‘Spencer’). He also executive produced the BBC period crime drama Peaky Blinders, which airs on Netflix in the US.

Lindelof — best known as the co-creator of the TV series “Lost,” “The Leftovers” and “Watchmen” — brought in Britt-Gibson (“Counterpart,” “Into the Badlands”) to write a “Star Wars” movie. together. After participating in a draft earlier this year, the duo left the project in February, becoming the latest creatives to part ways with Lucasfilm after signing on to develop one or more new Star Wars films to much fanfare.

Earlier in March, Variety reported that separate films—one controlled by director Patty Jenkins, the other by producer (and Marvel Studios head) Kevin Feige—had been shelved by Lucasfilm and were no longer in active development. Director JD Dillard (“Devotion”) he said TheWrap in November 2022 that it was no longer developing a “Star Wars” project at the studio.

In October 2019, “Game of Thrones” executive producers David Benioff and DB Weiss dropped out of a series of “Star Wars” movies they were going to write and produce, which were first announced 20 months earlier. In September 2017, Luscasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy fired Colin Trevorrow from what became The Rise of Skywalker. three months earlier, he fired Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” even though the film had completed a large portion of principal photography. While Gareth Edwards retained direction on 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, he was replaced by Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton,” “The Bourne Legacy”) for extensive rewrites on the project. (Gilroy went on to create the “Rogue One” prequel series “Andor” for Disney+, which received some of the strongest reviews of any “Star Wars” project, film or television, when it premiered in September 2022.)

The “Star Wars” movies known to still be active at Lucasfilm include a project from director Taika Waititi in which he would likely star, as well as a future Shawn Levy film that would follow his commitments to direct “Deadpool 3” and to complete his work. in the Netflix limited series “All the Light We Cannot See,” which Levy developed with Knight.

Above the line first mentionted the news about Lindelof and Britt-Gibson.