ROGUE ONE Screenwriter Gary Whitta Confirms He's Still Working on THE LAST STAR FIGHTER Sequel
Last year Star Wars: Rogue One screenwriter Gary Whitta revealed that that he was developing a reboot of the classic 1984 sci-fi film The Last Starfighter. Well, the writer has confirmed that he’s still developing the project and that it would be a sequel.
He released some concept art and said that he’s developing the film with the original writer of The Last Starfighter, Jonathan Betuel. The art, which you can see again below was created by Rogue One concept artist Matt Allsopp.
Whitta has been asked a lot about this project by people that didn’t know he was working on it, so he offered a little update and confirmed that it’s still happening. Here are a series of tweets that the writer has shared regarding the project.
Lots of people reacting like they had no idea I’ve been working on a sequel to THE LAST STARFIGHTER. Yup, writing and producing it with original writer/creator @jonbetuel. Check out some of the concept art I posted last year... https://t.co/V57nzwE0jp
— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) July 15, 2019
People seemed excited by the first tweet so here’s a tiny bit more of Matt’s concept art. Can’t show anything more after this, it’s all too spoilery :) #GreetingsStarfighter pic.twitter.com/FydxLwEfrt
— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) April 4, 2018
And you’ve not seen the last of it… https://t.co/lRvXrpokea
— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) July 15, 2019
Whitta previously opened up about what he was planning and explains why now is the right time to bring The Last Starfighter back. He also explains the story they have come up with:
"The simple answer to that is Jonathan Betuel. Jon created and wrote the original movie, it was all his idea, a spec script he wrote while he was working as a waiter in Hollywood in the early ’80s. There was a whole bidding war over that script. In all the years hence, whenever I’ve brought up the idea of a Starfighter reboot in meetings, people would always convey excitement and then say that it’s impossible because the rights are a mess. It’s true that it’s not simple, but part of the key to it is, as I understand it (and I’m not a lawyer), Jon still retains some piece of ownership of the original IP, so no one can make a new movie without his participation. I happened to track Jon down, and after I was done pestering him with all my fanboy questions about the original film we started to talk about what a new version might look like. Since then we’ve spent so many hours working on it I’ve long since lost count, but right now we have a fully developed story that is a combination of reboot and sequel that we both think honors the legacy of the original film while passing the torch to a new generation. We’re both very excited about it creatively."
Whitta explains that this is a passion project for he and Betuel and the are both confident that they have developed a great story for a great movie. He went on to say:
"But we still need to deal with some remaining biz stuff before we can really move forward. We’ve had a lot of talks with Universal. We’re determined, one way or another, to make this happen. Trying to create in Hollywood is always like pushing a boulder uphill, particularly when there are archaic rights issues involved, but we’re going to keep trying. That’s the lesson of Starfighter... when you get your chance you’ve got to grab it with both hands, and hold on tight."
I love The Last Starfighter, so I couldn’t be more pumped up that after all these years we are going to eventually get a sequel! I can’t wait to learn more about it!
The story of the original film centered on a video game expert named Alex Rogan who finds himself transported to another planet after conquering The Last Starfighter video game only to find out it was just a test. He was recruited to join the team of best starfighters to defend their world from the attack.
What are you hoping to see in a sequel to The Last Starfighter?