Gary Whitta to write the first standalone Star Wars movie

Friend of the site Gary Whitta and director Gareth Edwards, director of this years Godzilla movie, were announced by LucasFilm as the writer and director of the first standalone Star Wars movie, set to release in 2016.

Huge congrats to Gary!

Wow, that's crazy! Congratulations Gary!

Han Solo whispers "shoot that guy"

Just came here to post this.

Congrats to Gary! Very pleased to see him ... shooting for the stars...?

The mind boggles as to what this standalone Star Wars movie will entail.

That's amazing.

Here's the teaser trailer:

@flstyle: Maybe it will something like 1313.

Also THIS IS FUCKING CRAZY! Congrats to G. Whitta!

It's sort of amazing seeing how far some of the dudes who used to hang around the Whiskey Office have gone. 3 years ago, who would have though Will and Norm would be working with the Mythbusters and Gary Whitta would be on board for a Star Wars film.

This is amazing!

Force is a choice.

'First standalone Star Wars film' - is this exactly like it sounds? Not to be bogged down by the original trilogy and Han, Luke and Leia? This is great news. Although after After Earth, I'm not too sure about you Gary. We will have to see. Will this be part of the 'Legends' brand now?

Garry Whitta? You mean the writer of other masterpieces such as After Earth?

@razielcuts: The leaked release schedule implied this would actually be the Boba Fett solo movie, so it'd still be fairly tied down to a "character" from the older films. Since there really isn't anything to Fett the tone and style could really go anywhere though!

@razielcuts: They announced three movies to go along with the new trilogy. The plan is a Star Wars movie, every year, for six years. The trilogy will be alternating years, and the standalone's the other years.

Eh... I never really cared for the guy. But good for him. I thought he was just some dude that hung around Tested, didn't know he did this kind of stuff.

I don't want to be that guy but After Earth and Book of Eli were both terrible. Maybe third times a charm?

I like Gary Whitta, but good scriptwriter he is not. I watched the Godzilla movie a few days ago and, while you can't judge a director on one movie, it certainly didn't do a whole lot for my opinion of Gareth Edward's moviemaking capabilities.

Consider me a little worried. Also, Star Wars VII in 2015, standalone Star Wars in 2016... is it safe to assume a Star Wars VIII in 2017?

Fucking yeah Gary Whitta!

@believer258: I'm with you, happy for the dude, scared for the movie.

he hasnt written a movie i liked but i also dont care about star wars so whatever.

looking forward to him on the tested podcast so its worth it.

After Earth was not bad because of the writing. It was bad due to the fucking terrible acting from all involved. If the Smith's were not cast for that movie, it could have been decent.

@believer258: Did he write Godzilla? I'm not sure he had anything to do with it. I know Gareth Edwards directed it, and while I haven't seen Godzilla, his first film - Monsters - is absoultely top quality.Especially when you found out how he made it, and for how little money.

Holy mother fucker!!!! Thats fucking amazing!!!! And yes so want to someone say in a dialogue "Shoot that guy"

I didn't mind After Earth, though I might be a sucker for a father son story. I liked that new(though old now) Lost in Space movie a big part because of the father son stuff, even though it seemed no one else did.

They should try to work Godzilla into it.

Not a big fan of his writing, like him as a personality but everything he's written has been mediocre at best.

EDIT: After Earth sucks by all accounts, thought Episode 4 of the Walking Dead was the weakest in the first season and Book of Eli was...ok from what I remember, more so for Gary Oldman always being great in everything.

I edited it to clarify that Gareth Edwards directed Godzilla. Gary Whitta, as far as I know, had nothing to do with Godzilla.

@leebmx: No but he did write Book of Eli which I thought was great and he wrote one of the episodes of the first season of The Walking Dead game.

I am super happy for Gary, this is crazy.

no, you have a point. they were bad. I don't know the movie making or screen writing business. maybe he doesn't deserve all of the blame. I liked Gary though he was fun in all of his whiskey appearances.

Wow fuckin insane. Good job Whitta.

- Though its still early in pre-production and alot of this could change over time.

I hope we get a wink-and-nod to Giant Bomb/Ryan in some way. That'd be awesome.

So even less of Gary on This is Only a Test now...great for him though.

Well, Will Smith is a fine actor. You might want to blame M Night Shyamalan for not being able to direct them.

He is, normally. But he sucked balls in that film. And his son was the worst part of that movie. And yeah M. Night is also a big part of it. Whitta can't be blamed for that movie. He didn't even really write it.

Ummm.... ok, I guess. Can't say I'm too excited since the best work he's done is that Walking Dead S1 episode. I like Gary so I wish him the best but... yeah.

Sorry, didn't mean to be a pedant (I did). You should watch Monsters though, I thought it was really good. A alien/sci-fi/monster film which manages to be more about the relationships in the story than creatures or special effects, while still managing lots of tension and amazing effects considering the director literally knocked them up in this bedroom. - He shot the whole film himself on location with the two leads (its almost a two-hander) then went home, edited it and added the effects himself.

What makes it a bit sad is that Monsters showed so much promise but it seems to have lead just to him doing big budget Hollywood summer blockbusters, where originality, innovation and risk taking are not much welcomed. I haven't seen Godzilla, which seems to have got mixed reviews, although I am interested. However the thought of anyone being able to make something of an off-brand Star Wars movie scripted by Gary Whitta seems slim. Kind of a shame.

Well hot damn! I'm glad he's been given the opportunity to work on something fresh within the Star Wars universe, can't wait to see what he does.

@leebmx: Monsters was amazing. I love that film.

Was hoping for Milius.

This is fucking weird. Now I get to tell my friends "I've talked to the guy who wrote that one Star Wars movie directed by the guy who directed Godzilla" and not just "I've talked to the guy who wrote Book of Eli." Who cares if it was just during some dumb Giant Bomb stream or on Twitter or something and about something totally unrelated to movies?

@sterling: The writing sure didn't help. But it's not really clear if anyone but Will Smith had any creative control over that movie.

Congrats to Gary! Great director on Board too. And now he's never gonna be on Tested ever again :(

Huh, that's pretty wild, great opportunity for Mr. Whitta. Good luck to him trying to satisfy a million groups all with different expectations and desires. I doubt I'd be up to the job.

That's so cool. Go Gary!

I'd bet Gary constructing that Lego Tie Fighter so well gave him an edge.

Totally fucking bananas. Congrats @gwhitta!

I'm super fucking excited for Mr. Whitta, what an amazing opportunity. When it comes to worrying about quality, I really enjoyed Book of Eli, and I never saw After Earth, but it really seemed like the kind of movie that really got away from the writer; it seemed like Gary had no control once that script was bought. Also, Gary is a fucking huge Star Wars fan who likes to write kind of silly Sci-Fi, so it seems like a perfect fit.

I'm sure he'll eventually cameo again. Think of the amazing stories he'll have, especially if he gets to have a creative role in this movie after the initially writing process.

Never saw After Earth, but I concur on the rest. Seems like a good guy, and it can be tricky to figure out what's the fault of the writer and what's the fault of the director (or even the editor), but maybe it's not the best track record. Still, major props to him for landing the gig, and while I'm not personally super excited about new Star Wars movies, I'm sure whatever he ends up writing will probably be totally fine.

If he actually does manage to work 'shoot that guy' into the script, well, that would make up for just about anything.

I always wonder how much of Gary's actual writing makes it into the movie, and the whole sausage making movie process. Has he ever talked about it?

I thought Book of Eli was a great movie, and my mind is still blown from when I found out Whitta wrote it. I hope they let him write an effed up Star Wars movie, but as long as it's out of the hands of George Lucas you can be optimistic.

I haven't seen After Earth but i really don't like Book of Eli. Of course, i don't like Star Wars except for Empire Strikes Back and think most of Abrams films are aggressively mediocre aside from Super 8, so this already isn't the film for me.