Movie writers and long-term collaborators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff are arguably most known for their work on HBO’s Game of Thrones. However, the two have worked on a range of other extremely popular projects, such as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 3 Body Problem, and Leslie Jones: Time Machine.
The two almost added to this list a new Star Wars trilogy that they almost took up back in 2019. In an interview earlier this year, Weiss and Benioff revealed exactly what led to the cancellation of the project, which they ironically wanted to title The Last Jedi.
Not only was LucasFilm not interested in the concept, they ended up using their title, The Last Jedi, for the second installment of the trilogy series that eventually came out. Weiss even claimed that the two were left annoyed when Rian Johnson’s 2017 movie ended up with the same title, albeit jokingly.
D.B. Weiss and David Benioff had this title in mind for their Star Wars project
As it turned out, the idea that Weiss and Benioff pitched to LucasFilm was their own unique iteration of a trilogy series. The two wanted to delve into the story of the Jedi Order’s establishment and wanted to touch upon the creation of the first lightsaber. In his own words, Benioff revealed the following during the two’s interview with The Hollywood Reporter:
We wanted to do The First Jedi. Basically how the Jedi Order came to be, why it came to be, the first lightsaber
The two claimed that they already had the details of the story in mind, and wanted to call their iteration The Last Jedi.
However, while LucasFilm was not interested in the story, they seemingly ended up using the title for Rian Johnson’s eventual movie. Weiss claimed that the two were left annoyed when they found out:
We were annoyed as hell when [Johnson] called his movie The Last Jedi. He completely destroyed the obvious title for what we were working on.
Of course, some fans might argue that LucasFilm made the right decision, considering the fact that the collaborators were highly-criticized for the way they concluded the Game of Thrones series.
D.B. Weiss and David Benioff were criticized incessantly for Game of Thrones Season 8
A still from GOT’s finale. | HBO.
Season 8 of the epic HBO delved into various story developments that even George R.R. Martin had not written yet. The 75-year-old novelist has still not released The Winds of Winter, parts of which were covered in the final GOT season. The result was that the duo did not have proper source material, and relied on R.R. Martin telling them how he planned to conclude his longrunning novel series.
The results were arguably disastrous. Game of Thrones Season 8 was incessantly criticized for a number of reasons. The storyline seemed rushed, with the narration itself accelerating to speeds that simply did not present any decent conclusion to the longrunning saga.
Fans criticized the way in which the 7-season buildup of The Night King failed to impress, and were not on board with the way Daenerys Targaryen followed through the example of her ancestor, The Mad King, King Aerys II Targaryen.
As fans saw Emilia Clarke’s previously heroic character bring down the King’s Landing in flames, Game of Thrones Season 8 turned out to be the worst-reviewed iteration of the HBO series. The phenomenon has undoubtedly left a mark on the two writers’ career, one which they are yet to completely move past.
What’s more, the two had apparently rushed through Season 8 because they wanted to work on the Star Wars trilogy, which is utterly ironic. Hence, it is fair to say things did not work out well for the two at all, during this period.
