The Last Starfighter is a cult classic film from 1984 that has a special place in many of our childhoods. The film told the story of a teenager who breaks the record on a video game, only to discover that the game was developed as a training ground for pilots. Given his skills, he is then recruited to fight a war in space, the likes of which he (or the audience) has never seen before.

The film is a beloved tale of wish-fulfillment, and some in Hollywood have been working to remake the film. Unfortunately, because the screenwriter Jonathan Betuel has some of the rights to it, they’ve been unable to do so. But out of the blue, Rogue One screenwriter Gary Whitta took to Twitter to tease concept art for a film that’s very clearly The Last Starfighter. Here’s the tweet:

Okay, probably shouldn’t show you this so early but here’s a little something I’ve been tinkering on with my co-writer Jonathan Betuel. You might recognize the ships. Thanks to the amazing Matt Allsopp (lead concept artist on ROGUE ONE) for creating these images for us. pic.twitter.com/CIobLYYRHk

— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) April 4, 2018

On the heels of that dropped bomb, he did an interview with io9, and in that discussion, Whitta was asked why now was the time for a Last Starfighter reboot. Here’s what he said:

“The simple answer to that is Jonathan Betuel. Jon created and wrote the original movie, it was all his idea, a spec script he wrote while he was working as a waiter in Hollywood in the early ’80s. There was a whole bidding war over that script. In all the years hence, whenever I’ve brought up the idea of a Starfighter reboot in meetings, people would always convey excitement and then say that it’s impossible because the rights are a mess. It’s true that it’s not simple, but part of the key to it is, as I understand it (and I’m not a lawyer), Jon still retains some piece of ownership of the original IP, so no one can make a new movie without his participation. I happened to track Jon down, and after I was done pestering him with all my fanboy questions about the original film we started to talk about what a new version might look like. Since then we’ve spent so many hours working on it I’ve long since lost count, but right now we have a fully developed story that is a combination of reboot and sequel that we both think honors the legacy of the original film while passing the torch to a new generation. We’re both very excited about it creatively.”

Interestingly enough, one man who has tried to get The Last Starfighter done before is Seth Rogen. However, when that didn’t work out, they created the Hulu series Future Man, which is an unabashed ripoff of the classic film. Whitta went on to tag Rogen on Twitter, and while he’s not involved, it sounds like Whitta is interested in bringing him on in some capacity.

So what do you think? Does the idea of a Last Starfighter reboot/sequel appeal to you? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Gary Whitta, io9