It’s Official: Oscar-Winner Michael Arndt To Pen ‘Star Wars Episode VII’

UPDATE, 5:57 PM: LucasFilm confirmed today that Michael Arndt will be writing the next Star Wars movie. In a brief post on Starwars.com, the company said that Arndt, who wrote the screenplay for Hunger Games: Catching Fire and won an Oscar for writing Little Miss Sunshine, will be the only screenwriter on the first Star Wars movie since 2005’s Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. Previously it looked like Arndt would be one of a number of writers on Star Wars Episode VII.

PREVIOUSLY, NOV. 8, 2:06 PM: Michael Arndt has written a treatment for not just one but the next three Star Wars films coming from Disney, Deadline has learned. The Oscar-winning Little Miss Sunshine screenwriter, who also penned Toy Story 3 and the upcoming The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, is also in line to work on the script for Star Wars Episode VII next year.

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Arndt was brought on board by Lucasfilm months ago to put together ideas to take the franchise forward, a source with knowledge of the situation says. This was before the October 30 $4 billion sale of George Lucas’ company to Disney was finalized, The result was the “pretty extensive and detailed treatment for what would be the next three movies, the trilogy,” that Disney CEO Bob Iger referred to when the company’s acquisition of Lucasfilm was announced. Iger also announced plans for the new series of Star Wars films that day. “We’ve got a lengthy treatment that comes with this that we feel really good about and the film is in what I’ll call early-stage development right now,” the Disney boss said. Arndt is repped by the Verve Talent and Literary Agency.