Lucasfilm confirms Toy Story 3 writer will pen new Star Wars

Huge news: the new Star Wars film has found its writer. It'll be penned by Michael Arndt, the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3, Boing Boing reports.

So get ready for a potentially tear-jerking Star Wars: Episode VII, coming your way in 2015.

Disney bought Lucasfilm -- and hence the rights to the seminal sci-fi series -- from George Lucas a few days ago for $4bn. Lucas will stay on as creative consultant, and has begun story conferences with Arndt and producer Kathleen Kennedy, according to StarWars.com.

You can check out Lucas' musings on the matter in a couple of video interviews here.

According to rumours, Arndt wrote a 40-50 page treatment for the next Star Wars movie, and he nailed it. He'd reportedly been working on it since long before the merger last week.

To call Arndt a fan would be an understatement. He's lectured extensively on Star Wars and the art of storytelling, pinpointing exactly why the ending of Episode IV is so satisfying.

According to Vulture: "Arndt stated that if a writer could resolve the story's arcs (internal, external, philosophical) immediately after the Moment of Despair at the climax, he or she would deliver the Insanely Great Ending and put the audience in a euphoric state. The faster it could happen, the better. By [Arndt's] reckoning, George Lucas hit those three marks at the climax of Star Wars within a space of 22 seconds."

Arndt knows his space onions, so the chances of us having to endure another Jar Jar Binks are slim, to say the least.

There's no title beyond Star Wars: Episode VII, and there's no word on what the story is likely to involve. But this is happening, people. And it looks like the franchise could be restored to its former glory.

What do you hope for from the new Star Wars? Let me know in the comments below, or over on our Facebook page.

Image credit: Mondo