STAR WARS Gets New (Old) Writers, Man of Steel Gets Trailer

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Revisiting a Galaxy Far, Far Away

More writer news has emerged for the future of the Star Wars franchise, and it's actually reaching into the past. Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg have signed on to write and produce Episodes VIII and IX, following the announcement of Michael Arndt writing Episode VII. THR reports the exact "division of labor" is yet to be decided.

Kasdan's name is familiar to Star Wars fans as he's the writer of two of the films already, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Simon Kinberg, meanwhile, is no stranger to geeks and scifi, as producer on X-Men: First Class, and writer on X-Men: Days of Future Past, as well as Sherlock Holmes, Jumper, and X-Men: The Last Stand.

This news comes just days after Kathleen Kennedy told Lucasfilm employees that she hopes to get them onto a schedule of 2-3 Star Wars movies per year, expanding the franchise and reaching into other corners of the galaxy, making the movie model more akin to sister company Marvel Studios.

Man Of Steel Finally Flies in Trailer

If you didn't already start your countdown to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey next month, now you have another reason. Man of Steel, the Superman film that reboots the franchise in June 2013, will soar before the film on December 14, 2012, exactly six months before its own debut. Director Zack Snyder told MTV News he's thrilled the trailer is coming before a movie he's so excited about.

He also talked about Michael Shannon's take on Zod, promising there is zero camp to his performance.

"You can imagine that you could get actors who go, 'Oh right, it's Zod, it's not 100 percent serious,' or [you can play it] slightly with a wink, there is none of that with him. His effort is to make it realized and to understand this character and what he has to go through, so you have that on one side and you have Henry, who basically is Superman, on the other side and that dynamic."