IGN UK Podcast #266: Gary Whitta Talks Star Wars & Starlight

We really are spoiling you with our pod-guests these days. Hot-on-the-heels of Ex Machina’s Alex Garland and Evolve’s Phil Robb, we’ve now got games journalist-turned-screenwriter Gary Whitta joining Chris and Gav for an epic cast.

Whitta started out in the games industry in the late 1980s before making the transition to film via The Book of Eli and Another Earth. For the last year he’s been busy working in a galaxy far, far away, writing the first standalone movie in the new Star Wars cycle, which will be directed by Gareth ‘Godzilla’ Edwards and hitting screens December 2016.

Gary doesn’t reveal much about the movie – bound as he is by the mother of all non-disclosure agreements – but he does talk about his love of The Empire Strikes Back, how the original trilogy inspired his generation of writers and filmmakers, and what working on this new movie has been like as a creative experience.  Oh, and his failure in a Star Wars quiz many moons ago also gets a (somewhat unfair) mention.

If that weren’t enough, Gary offers his advice to aspiring screenwriters, talks about games as an art-form in the 21st Century, explains where’s he’s at with his adaptation of Mark Millar comic Starlight, tells an AMAZING story aboutFrank Darabont, and gives us the skinny on his forthcoming novel Abomination, which is available via pre-sale this Monday, February 9.

Braking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul hits Netflix this week so the boys discuss their hopes and fears for the show, while the conversation about potential TV reboots rumbles on, with Star Trek, The Crystal Maze and Green Wing all getting a mention in reader feedback.

Out this week includes games Gunman Clive 2, Game of Thrones Episode 2 and Evolve, while the big movie releases are Selma, Shaun the Sheep and Jupiter Ascending.

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