Game of Thrones showrunners tapped for new Star Wars films

Two fandoms are set to collide, with the showrunners behind the TVsmash Game of Thrones enlisted to write and produce a new series of Star Wars movies.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy praised David Benioff and D.B. Weiss as "some of the best storytellers working today," in an announcement posted Tuesday afternoon on Starwars.com.

"Their command of complex characters, depth of story and richness of mythology will break new ground and boldly push Star Wars in ways I find incredibly exciting."

The pair will create a new movie series "separate from both the episodic Skywalker saga and the recently announced trilogy," being developedby The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson.

No release dates have been set.

"We are honoured by the opportunity, a little terrified by the responsibility, and so excited to get started as soon as the final season of Game of Thrones is complete," Benioff and Weiss said in a joint statement.

Benioff and Weiss have garnered praise for their sprawling, Emmy Award-winning adaptationofGeorge R.R. Martin's bestselling A Song of Ice and Fire novel series.

The show will conclude with a six-episode final season on HBO in 2019 and both Benioff and Weiss are also slated to serve as executive producers of potential Game of Thrones spinoff series being developed at HBO.

The creative duo were widely criticized after announcing another of their Game of Thrones follow-up projects: a sci-fi series titled Confederate, set to depict an alternate take on U.S. history after the American Civil War, in which the southern states successfully seceded from the Union.