Rumor: Lucasfilm Wants a ‘Star Wars Story’ Written by ‘Mr. Robot’ Creator Sam Esmail

As of now, there are Star Wars movies scheduled through the summer of 2019. Star Wars: The Last Jedi arrives on December 15, 2017, the Han Solo spin-off starring Alden Ehrenreich takes Star Wars back to summer on May 25, 2018, and then Star Wars: Episode IX will hit theaters on May 23, 2019. Anything after that is unknown, and it’s anyone’s guess as to what Disney and Lucasfilm have in mind. But now we may have a line on who will be writing one of the movies coming after 2019.

A new rumor says that Lucasfilm has been meeting with Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail to write an upcoming installment of the Star Wars Story spin-off movies that tell standalone stories in the Star Wars universe like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. In addition, there is even word on what the project might be. Find out more about the Mr Robot creator writing Star Wars after the jump.

Omega Underground, who usually has some reliable insiders feeding them information, has two separate sources telling them about Sam Esmail taking pitch meetings with Lucasfilm. Of course, plenty of filmmakers have been taking pitch meetings ever since Disney picked up Lucasfilm and revived the Star Wars saga, so this may not turn into anything. What makes this rumor a little more compelling is what project Lucasfilm has been supposedly meeting with Esmail about.

The rumor indicates that Lucasfilm is interested in having Esmail write the Star Wars Story that will focus on Obi-Wan Kenobi during the years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Again, the existence of this movie has been something that’s been rumored for years, so it’s still important to take this news with a grain of salt. But because it’s the one story fans have been clamoring for the most, not to mention having interest from Ewan McGregor to reprise his role as Obi-Wan, it feels likely to come to fruition.

One of the other possibilities for a new Star Wars movie could be the Boba Fett spin-off that was almost announced back at Star Wars Celebration in 2015 when Josh Trank was still involved. But all the poor publicity that came out of Trank working on Fantastic Four convinced Lucasfilm to hold back anymore hype for that movie at the time and he ended up being removed from the project.

As of now, Esmail is being courted just to write the script for whatever this Star Wars movie will be. However, with Esmail having directed 15 episodes of Mr. Robot across two seasons, as well as the soul-crushing indie romance Comet, he’s also a prime candidate for Lucasfilm to let him spread his wings on a Star Wars movie as director. But again, there’s no indication that Lucasfilm wants him for anything besides writing at this point.

Funnily enough, Sam Esmail has an interesting connection to Star Wars through his representation. Esmail’s agent is Bryan Lourd, who is not only a powerful agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) but also the ex-boyfriend of the late Carrie Fisher and father to their daughter Billie Lourd, who has a role in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. So Esmail certainly has the right connections to get a Star Wars job within his reach.

A new season of Mr. Robot is coming to USA this October, and Esmail is supposed to be working on a miniseries adaptation of Fritz Lang’s classic 1927 film Metropolis (which just so happens to have inspired Star Wars in several ways). But if a Star Wars project were to come along, I’m sure he wouldn’t turn it down. Kathleen Kennedy has said an announcement about a new Star Wars spin-off should be coming this summer (perhaps at San Diego Comic-Con?), so maybe we’ll get official word on this soon.
http://www.slashfilm.com/rumor-mr-ro...ing-star-wars/

APRIL 26, 2017 6:35pm PT by Carolyn Giardina
John Knoll "Tinkering" With a New 'Star Wars' Story Idea

He participated on a panel about the sound and visual effects in 'Rogue One' on Wednesday at NAB.
Industrial Light & Magic’s John Knoll, who served as visual effects supervisor on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, also conceived the film's original story — and now he's at it again, telling The Hollywood Reporter that he’s “tinkering” with another Star Wars-related idea.

“I have another idea I’ve been tinkering with,” he said after participating on a Rogue One Super Session during the National Association of Broadcasters Show. “It’s maybe 75 percent there. I haven’t pitched it to [Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy]. It’s another Star Wars thing.”

Upcoming Star Wars films already in the works include Star Wars: The Last Jedi, opening in December; a Han Solo movie in 2018; Star Wars: Episode IX in 2019; and an untitled anthology film planned for 2020. “There’s no reason to think Disney is going to stop wanting to make Star Wars movies if there’s quality and there’s interest,” Knoll reasoned. “It has unlimited potential. It has a huge number of characters, worlds … It’s a massive playground.”

At NAB, Knoll presented a look back at the work on last year's Rogue One before a packed auditorium of wildly enthusiastic fans, alongside ILM animation supervisor Hal Hickel, who described the making of the digital version of Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin of the 1977-Star Wars era; and Matthew Wood, supervising sound editor and sound design at Skywalker Sound, who discussed critical sounds include those of environments and weapons. The session was presented by Motion Picture Sound Editors and NAB (THR’s Carolyn Giardina moderated).

On the subject of creating a digital human, Knoll said,“It’s definitely an issue if the actor has passed away without stating any intention or desire about how his or her likeness should be dealt with. Then it falls to their estate. That’s a problem that will start solving itself. Now the technology exists and actors are aware of this and can make their wishes known. For instance. Robin Williams included this in his will.”

Knoll also pointed out that the uses can vary — for instance a likeness to pitch a product in a commercial is different compared with the appearance of the character Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One. “He was an important character to tell the story. There wasn’t a good way to tell the political intrigue without including Tarkin. We also knew Cushing. He was a friend to Lucasfilm and was proud of his involvement with Star Wars.”

With extensive use of behind-the-scene clips, Knoll discussed topics including virtual production and the use of LED panels as a lighting instrument. Of the latter, he said. “You can prepare the images in advance and then light the characters. I think it’s going to be an important part of the toolset.”

Thought dead, Darth Maul survived his injuries by focusing on his hatred of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi who cut him in half. His shattered body was dumped amid the refuse of the junk planet Lotho Minor, where the once deadly warrior fell into madness, staying alive on a diet of vermin. When found by his brother Savage Opress, Maul had no memory of who he was, rambled nonsensically, and had built hideous spider-like legs in place of his severed ones.

Opress brought Maul back to his homeworld of Dathomir, where the Nightsister Mother Talzin used dark magicks to restore the fallen Sith’s mind and body. Maul reemerged, took Opress as his apprentice, and became obsessed with Kenobi.