New Star Wars Movie Spin-Off Release Date: Writer Hired For Star Wars Spin-Off Film After 'The Force Awakens'

A new writer has been brought in to write Disney's spin-off of "Star Wars," which will be directed by Gareth Edwards.

It looks like "About A Boy" writer Chris Weitz will be headed to the galaxy far, far away to replace Gary Whitta, the Hollywood Reporter said.

Citing unnamed sources, the publication said Whitta left the project so he can move on to a new one after finishing its first draft this month.

A Jan. 9 report from Slash Film blog site revealed that Edwards already hired Weitz to continue what Whitta started on one of two spin-offs that Disney and Lucasfilm have in development.

The Lucasfilm/Disney project is scheduled to be released on Dec. 16, 2016 or a year after "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" hits theaters.

Weitz is an author, a screenwriter, and a director, who received an Oscar nomination for his adapted screenplay for the 2002 film, "About A Boy."

His other directing credits include the Oscar-nominated drama "A Better Life," "The Golden Compass," and "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."

Aside from his works for Disney's upcoming "Cinderella," the writer is still in the middle of writing a YA trilogy set in a post-apocalyptic world, with the first book "The Young World" having hit shelves last summer.

The announcement will finally silence rumors that floated the name of Simon Kinberg, who is already co-writing the Trank stand-alone with Lawrence Kasdan, as one of the candidates who will take over writing duties.

Kinberg is additionally crafting the X-Men universe, writing the "X-Men: Apocalypse" script for Fox and overseeing the upcoming "Fantastic Four" reshoots for which he did the rewrites.

Weitz's hiring came after Michael Arndt left the scripting duties for "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens" to J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan.

Tatiana Maslany, Rooney Mara, as well as Felicity Jones are just a few of the actresses who reportedly tried for roles in Edwards' upcoming "Star Wars" film, the Hollywood Reporter said last week.

Plot and character details for the movie are being kept under wraps in an R2 unit, with insiders saying that reading and testing for the movie occurred in the U.K. in December and has now moved stateside.