Walt Disney Company chairman Bob Iger confirmed the news today at the MoffetNathanson Media & Communications Summit.
"I haven't seen [Episode] 9 finished yet, but I'm confident based on the pieces that I've seen and the script that I've read that it's going to be extremely popular. [But we felt] that it would be smart of us to take a bit of a hiatus while we figure out what's next. Now we're not going to wait until [Episode] 9 is released and then start figuring it out. We're actually hard at work doing that already. The conclusion that we reached was three years was the proper amount of time to not only take a breather and reset, but to really gear up for the next films released. 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."
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss said in a joint statement, "In the summer of 1977 we traveled to a galaxy, far, far away, and we've been dreaming of it ever since. We are honored by the opportunity, a little terrified by the responsibility, and so excited to get started as soon as the final season of Game of Thrones is complete."
The conclusion to the latest Star Wars trilogy will conclude with The Rise of Skywalker on December 20, 2019. This next series of films won't begin again until 2022.
