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Simon Kinberg has reportedly been tapped to write a new trilogy of Star Wars films, which he will also co-produce with its Lucasfilm’s head Kathleen Kennedy. News of the deal was first reported in Deadline by Mike Fleming, jr., who says that neither Lucasfilm nor Disney has commented further.
Fleming speculated that Kinberg will be writing episodes 10, 11, and 12 of The Skywalker Saga, though other sources indicate that an entirely new saga may be in the works.
This is not the first time Kinberg would be doing a project with Lucasfilm. From 2014 to 2018, he collaborated with Dave Filoni and Carrie Beck on Star Wars Rebels, an animated series that was nominated for an Emmy award. He also served as a consultant for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, which was directed by J. J. Abrams.
The prolific Kinberg also worked on several X-Men films and the Logan spinoff. He produced the first two Deadpool films as well as The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott, which won Kinberg an Academy Award nomination for best picture. Kinberg was also the producer of Murder on the Orient Express, Kenneth Branagh’s 2017 adaptation of the celebrated novel by Agatha Christie.
As a scriptwriter, Kinberg penned the screenplay for Mr & Mrs Smith and co-wrote the first film in the Sherlock Holmes franchise with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. Upcoming projects for Kinberg include Paramount’s remake of The Running Man, a Stephen King story that he is producing. He’ll also produce Paramount’s Star Trek movie being directed by Toby Haynes.
Kinberg, 51, was born in London to American parents. He grew up in Los Angeles and got his MFA from Columbia University after doing his undergraduate work at Brown University. While still in film school, he worked with Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer on scripts for Disney, Sony, and DreamWorks.
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