A couple of days back it was rumoured Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg, the screenwriters of “Empire Strikes Back” and “Mr & Mrs Smith” respectively, had been hired to work on “Star Wars Episode 8″ and “Episode 9″ in a writing and producing capacity (Michael Arndt is writing the first of the new “Star Wars” films, of which Matthew Vaughn is now rumoured to be directing). Seems the rumour has some backbone to it, but it might only be partly right.

While Kasdan and Kinberg have been hired to work on “Star Wars”, at least according to the oft-reliable trades, they mightn’t be involved in Episodes 8 or 9. Instead, the duo may be doing spin-off projects – yes, a’la “The Ewok Adventure : Caravan of Courage” (though ideally something a little more exciting). Bea Arthur sadly won’t be involved. Nor Wilford Brimley. Still a shot at Lumpy the Wookie though.

With Lucasfilm and Disney planning to do a new “Star Wars” film every two to three years, it’s believed the plan is to do a series of projects based on characters from the ‘Star Wars’ universe (like the solo “Avengers” films – Iron Man, Captain America and so on) in addition to ‘the big three’. What those projects are, nobody knows – though a Boba Fett spin-off seems a possibility, it’s unlikely a Jar Jar Binks project will make it to theaters… if only because I’ll set alight the cans of film before it makes it through the front doors – but Disney are clearly planning for the films to be half-decent, by bringing in heavyweights like Kasdan, who not only worked on “Empire” but also Lucas’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.