Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg May Be Writing STAR WARS Spin-Offs Instead of Sequels

Earlier this month, we reported that Lawrence Kasdan (Return of the Jedi) and Simon Kinberg (This Means War) were attached to write screenplays for Star Wars Episode VIII and IX, respectively (Toy Story 3 scribe Michard Arndt is writing Episode VII).  However, it turns out that this news may have jumped the blaster on what Kasdan and Kinberg are working on for Lucasfilm.

Hit the jump for how Kasdan and Kinberg could be involved in Star Wars spin-offs.  Star Wars: Episode VII is due out in 2015.

According to THR, Kasdan and Kinberg are not necessarily writing Episode VIII and IX.  Per THR, “Their scripts could turn into official ‘Episodes’ in the main Skywalker storyline, or they could form the basis for spinoffs focusing on side characters.”  What has Bossk been up to?  That’s what I want to know.  I think that’s what everyone wants to know.

First, it looks like that the sequel trilogy is confirmed to be about the Skywalkers.  That’s not a huge surprise, but everything is on the table with these sequels.  More importantly, it shows that Disney wants to branch out Marvel-style in their Star Wars movies.  Disney CEO Robert Iger has said that he wants a new Star Wars movie “every two to three” years, but why stop there?  We assumed that the “new Star Wars movi”e would simply be the next episode since a three-year-gap was the norm between episodes in the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy.

However, I’m still a bit confused on how their scripts could either be main episodes or spin-offs.  Either a story is about the Skywalkers or it isn’t.  If the majority of the plot has nothing to do with a Skywalker, then how is it considered a main episode?  Kasdan and Kinberg may have a broad idea of the sequel trilogy’s plot, but it’s also possible that they’re looking at Arndt’s script for new characters and plot threads that could lead into the next episodes or spinoffs.