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Simon Kinberg and EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Scribe Lawrence Kasdan to Write and Produce STAR WARS Episodes 8 and 9

If you thought we’d be heading into the Thanksgiving holiday without one more Star Wars rumor for the road, you’d be wrong.

Michael Arndt was recently confirmed as the screenwriter for Star Wars: Episode VII, and while everyone is busy speculating over who will or won’t direct the next installment in the franchise, it appears that Disney already has its sights set on Episodes VIII and IX.

Word on the street is that the Mouse House is looking at Empire Strikes Back screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and X-Men: First Class scribe Simon Kinberg to possibly get to work on the next two installments in the new trilogy right away.

Kasdan and Kinberg have closed deals to write either Episode VIII or Episode IX, though the division of their responsibilities has yet to be determined. This means that Kasdan could possibly find himself writing the middle chapter in a Star Wars trilogy again, and we all know how that worked out the first time. The duo will also produce the films.

When Star Wars: Episode VII was announced, it was revealed that it was the first film in a planned new trilogy based on treatments by George Lucas. Lucas said that he passed all his story notes and treatments for further Star Wars films on to new LucasFilm head and Star Wars gatekeeper Kathleen Kennedy, and Disney made it clear that they would like to release a new Star Wars film every other year.

That kind of ambitious plan doesn’t move forward without some major planning, and Deadline is now hearing that Disney is approaching Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg to go ahead and get the ball rolling on Episodes 8 and 9. Kasdan’s name should ring familiar for fans of the original franchise, as he scripted The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and he also penned the screenplay for Radiers of the Lost Ark. As for Kinberg, he’s no stranger to franchise material himself as he wrote the scripts for Sherlock Holmes, X-Men: First Class, and the upcoming sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hea...n-simon-393459