James Mangold’s Star Wars movie has picked up House of Cards creator Beau Willimon as a co-writer, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
A Star Wars veteran who also worked on the well-received Star Wars: Andor, Willimon will help Mangold write the script for the film. Its current working title is Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi and will tell a story about the Force that takes place 25,000 years before the movie timelines fans know and love.
Willimon’s inclusion should excite Star Wars fans who tuned in for Andor last year. He wrote three episodes of the show’s first season, including its standout episode, One Way Out. He was later nominated for an Emmy for his work on the show.
Other details remain under wraps, but we do at least know that the Logan director is looking to tell a story that isn’t shackled by the franchise’s lore. In June of last year, he explained that he wants his film to explore the origins of the Force.
“I want to be part of the saga, but I also don’t want to be holding so much lore in the air that you can hardly tell a story,” he said.
Mangold continued: “What I really wanted to do, what I told [Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy], was just can we make a kind of the Ten Commandments of the Force? A kind of origin story of how the Force came to be known, understood, wielded, and harnessed.”
Dawn of the Jedi doesn’t have a firm release date yet, so it could be years before we see what Mangold has planned. The Mandalorian and Grogu movie should help with the wait, though, as it is set to arrive on May 22, 2026. Disney+ shows, like Star Wars: Tales of the Empire and The Acolyte, are scheduled to start streaming on May 4, 2024, and June 4, 2024, respectively.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
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