Screenwriter Gary Whitta is parting ways with the Untitled Gareth Edwards Directed Star Wars Spin-Off, after recently completing his first draft of the screenplay. The writer had been working with director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) on the project, but now he is moving on, as the spinoff goes in search of a new writer. Here's what Gareth Edwards had to say in a statement about Gary Whitta's contributions to the project.

"Gary has been a wonderful, inspired contributor and I enjoyed working with him tremendously. I'm so grateful for all of his contributions."

Gary Whitta also offered his own statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

"The year I spent working with Lucasfilm on this Star Wars film has been by far the most rewarding period of my entire career. As a lifelong Star Wars fan I'm deeply grateful to have had the rare opportunity to contribute to a new chapter in its ongoing cinematic legacy. The film is going to be amazing."

Gary Whitta signed on to write this Star Wars spin-off back in May 2014, although no story details have been confirmed at this point. It has been rumored that the story centers on the theft of Death Star plans, although another rumor surfaced last month that the story revolves space pirates, centering on a young Han Solo. Aaron Paul rumored to star as one of the space pirates, but not Han Solo, although that has not been confirmed. The story was originally rumored to revolve around the bounty hunter Boba Fett, but, naturally, that was never confirmed either. You may recall that the original Star Wars: The Force Awakens writer, Michael Arndt, left that project after turning in his script, which was later rewritten by director J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan.

Gary Whitta also took to his Twitter account today to express his gratitude for working on the Star Wars project, while also revealing that he is moving on to start writing Starlight, an adaptation of Mark Millar's graphic novel which he signed on to write back in September. Take a look at Gary Whitta's tweets below.