Rumor: Are Benioff and Weiss heading to the Old Republic?

We’ve heard unverified rumblings before that the first of the non-saga Star Wars films from Game of Thrones’ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss would come out before Rian Johnson’s, but today we have a time frame from Star Wars News Net: It’s up after IX, with filming to begin in the fall.

They – or rather, their source, who they say has “worked on every Star Wars film since Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm” – also claim that the films will be set in the Old Republic era, which will perhaps be most familiar as the Legends (i.e. currently noncanon) video game Knights of the Old Republic and various spinoffs, which include the still-active MMO The Old Republic.

If Lucasfilm’s aim is indeed to “appeal to a more Game of Thrones style audience.”, the still somewhat controversial pick (a couple of not-in-the-books rape plots on Game of Thrones, and that whole Confederate thing) of Benioff and Weiss suddenly does make a lot more sense.

To be honest, this whole thing reads to me like a repackaging of earlier (and even shakier) rumors and fan theories/wishful thinking, so I can’t put a lot of faith in it. (If you’re curious, the first KOTOR-centric movie “rumor” dates back to early 2013.) But as little as it appeals to me, there’s no doubt that the Knights of the Old Republic games and their offshoots are beloved by many fans. It’s hardly inconceivable that Lucasfilm might want to take a whack at them in canon. But, as always, I’m skeptical.

Consider that we still know next to nothing about anything happening past Episode IX, which could change at Celebration. For the moment, let’s just hope this rumor doesn’t lead to another round of “Rian got fired” from the angry bros and their short attention spans.