Godzilla director Gareth Edwards will direct the first Star Wars spinoff movie, Lucasfilm announced Thursday -- without revealing the first detail on what the movie is about.
The untitled Star Wars movie got a scriptwriter and a release date, too. You'll be seeing it everywhere on December 16, 2016 -- in other words, a mere 363 days after the release of Star Wars Episode VII.
Edwards, still in his 30s, burst on to the scene with a 2010 feature called Monsters, which cost just $500,000 and led Edwards directly to the big-budget Godzilla gig. In 2011, he told the London Observer that "Star Wars is definitely the reason that I wanted to become a filmmaker."
"Ever since I saw Star Wars I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life - join the Rebel Alliance!" Edwards enthused in a press statement, asserting his fanboy bona fides from the beginning.
Rumor has it that the movie will tell the backstory of a widely-known but mysterious character, of which the Star Wars universe offers many -- from Boba Fett to young Han Solo to Yoda. But like almost everything else in the large mystery box owned by the Disney subsidiary, that's just wild speculation at the moment.
Regardless, the screenwriter packing his bags for that galaxy far, far away (known to fans as GFFA) is Gary Whitta, who wrote the apocalyptic Denzel Washington vehicle The Book of Eli and is also known for his videogame journalism.
Lucasfilm doesn't look kindly on tweets that hint about its news, but apparently no one sent Whitta that memo. He's been hinting all day:
Today is about to get interesting.— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) May 22, 2014
This is where the fun begins…— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) May 22, 2014
Although he did find time to address the Internet's favorite topic other than Star Wars:
Basically, if you do something involving cats, you’re golden on the internet.— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) May 22, 2014
The story was a scoop for The Hollywood Reporter, which managed to publish its piece minutes before Lucasfilm put the official announcement on StarWars.com.