From the moment that Disney announced it was set to develop a new Star Wars trilogy, the internet has been rife with speculation as to potential directors for Star Wars Episode VII. While it seems we’re no closer to learning who will succeed George Lucas in the director’s chair for the next instalment of the epic space opera, Vulture has broken the news that Lucasfilm has been working with Academy Award-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) to develop a treatment for Episode VII, with Deadline subsequently reporting that Arndt has delivered an outline for the next three movies, and is also in line to tackle the script for Episode VII.

According to Deadline’s source, Arndt – whose other credits include Toy Story 3, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and the upcoming ‘Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside the Mind‘ – is said to have been developing the outline for several months and has delivered what Disney CEO Bob Iger referred to as a “pretty extensive and detailed treatment for what would be the next three movies, the trilogy” during the announcement of the studio’s acquisition of Lucasfilm.  

So, with a screenwriter seemingly now on board, the next step will be to secure a director for the project and Vulture has suggested that Lucasfilm will approach Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), J.J. Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness) and Brad Bird (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), with the trio joining an extensive list of rumoured candidates such as Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class), Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men), Neill Blomkamp (District 9), Joss Whedon (The Avengers) and Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed).