Now, It’s Official
Rian Johnson is a bubbling barrel of monkey spunk.
But you already knew that.
You also probably already knew that the Game Of Thrones showrunners might get to take a wack at their own Star Wars trilogy. Now we have word from the Mouse Domo that it’s going to happen.
At the MoffettNathanson Media and Communications Summit in New York, Disney CEO Bob Iger went on the record:
“The next movie we produce will be theirs… We’re not saying anything more about that.”
“Theirs.” “We produce.” I’m unclear on whether Benioff and Weiss will be writing, writing and producing or writing, producing and directing.
But that is hardly the story here. The story is how Disney always has such bad timing.
This Deal Is Already Worse
D & D bravely subverted expectations in season eight by having armies refuse to defend hardened positions, turning the entire previous seven seasons into one big wankfest by offing the main threat, introducing plot-teleportation and finally having the main character, who up to this point was a liberating hero, genocide an entire city because… her hairdresser got killed.
And in doing so, they did what Rian Johnson failed to do — they lost their own cheerleading squad.
When the access media turns against your show in its final season, you have problems.
And they have turned completely, dropping the Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score for episode five to an all-time series low of 49%.
Guys, don’t upset the cheerleaders… because they will come for you.
Now, a lot of GOT defenders will say:
- “The show only went off the tracks after they ran out of material from the books.”
- “Hey, there is a lot of material to draw from The Knights Of The Old Republic.”
To these people, I say “Time out, Taatoine”:
- Have you gone back and watched the show? It’s a stunning achievement in realizing a perfect Medieval fantasy mise en scène. The locations, the sets, the costumes, the lore, even the names they had to make up are all excellent. But the writing — particularly the dialogue — was never more than adequate and the direction has been exceedingly pedestrian at times.
- Kennedy and her coven had endless material to pull from the Extended Universe and look what they did.
Of course, this all depends on Bob Iger giving KK and the Wonder Twins free reign to do as much damage as they can to the what remains of the Star Wars brand.
I can’t imagine this will be the case. He’s a businessman, after all.
I guess just flip a coin. And keep your expectations in check.
