New Star Wars Movie Based on the Knights of the Old Republic Video Game Is Being Written
After the highly anticipated ninth installment of the Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker, fans can expect an upcoming movie in the franchise to be set an even longer time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
That’s because a Star Wars film is currently being written by screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island), according to sources who told BuzzFeed News, and it’s apparently based on the critically acclaimed video game from 2003, Knights of the Old Republic.
The role-playing video game, set four millennia before the events of Episode IV — A New Hope, has the player battling a rebellion against the Republic led by the Sith Lord (aka the evil baddie) Darth Malak, while under the mentorship of Jedi Knight, Bastila Shan.
In addition to all of the standard alien species you might expect from a Star Wars film — Wookies and Hutts, for instance — Knights of the Old Republic (known as KOTOR by its fandom) features spaceships, droids and most importantly, a riveting story.
And according to BuzzFeed News’ report, Kalogridis, the Star Wars franchise’s first female writer since Empire Strikes Back, is close to completing the first script in a potential KOTOR trilogy.
To paraphrase Emperor Palpatine, this is a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one for fans.
When asked about KOTOR at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago in April, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy told MTV News, “Yes, we are developing something to look at. Right now, I have no idea where things might fall.”
While Disney, Lucasfilm and Kalogridis have yet to respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, this report comes just a few weeks after it was announced that Game of Thrones showrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, were working on the next Star Wars movie, which will be released in 2022.
With two Star Wars movies planned after that in 2024 and 2026, it’s likely that the newly announced 2022 movie is part of a trilogy. But the real question? Is this trilogy and the KOTOR trilogy one and the same?
“We did a deal with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who are famous for Game of Thrones, and the next movie we release will be theirs. And we’re not saying anything more about that,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said of the 2022 project, according to Variety.
The final installment in the current Star Wars trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker, opens on December 20.
