Gary Whitta no longer writing Star Wars standalone movie

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

There has been yet another shake up in the land of STAR WARS films. You may recall back in the fall of 2013 we told you that Michael Arndt, who worked on STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS for a year, exited over creative differences and J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan came on to make major rewrites. This time around it's Gary Whitta leaving the first STAR WARS spinoff movie which he and the director of the project, Gareth Edwards, have been working on for a year.

There doesn't seem to be too much drama going on here though, as THR's report shares positive comments from both Edwards and Whitta about their time together. Edwards says "I enjoyed working with him tremendously, I’m so grateful for all of his contributions."  Whitta added, "The year I spent working with Lucasfilm on this Star Wars film has been by far the most rewarding period of my entire career. As a lifelong Star Wars fan I’m deeply grateful to have had the rare opportunity to contribute to a new chapter in its ongoing cinematic legacy. The film is going to be amazing."

Whitta then took to Twitter to reveal his next project, an adaptation of Mark Millar’s STARLIGHT:

There are no official details on the STAR WARS spinoff as of yet but the last rumor claims that it will be a heist film that involves bounty hunters looking to steal the plans for the Death Star and that Aaron Paul could be starring. Whatever it’s about, Edwards showed a lot of promise with GODZILLA last year and that gives me a lot of optimism about what he will pull off with this material. Production should be starting this year for its anticipated December 16, 2016 release.