WhenGeorge Lucashad completed the initialStar Warstrilogy, he maintained that the franchise actually consisted of three trilogies in total: another that tells the story of what happened beforeEpisode IVand a final series that continued the Luke/Leia story afterEpisode VI. He was able to realize the first continuation a couple of decades afterReturn of the Jedi, but then maybe not so surprisingly retreated from the world of directing for a bit. Indeed, the response to the prequels was not kind, and so Lucas focused his efforts on producing films likeRed TailsandIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Then, when Disney purchased Lucasfilm a few years ago and set about creating a new series ofStar Warsfilms, Lucas left the world that he created for good—but not before outlining the last piece of his long-promised puzzle. He worked with screenwriterMichael Arndtto map outEpisode VIIthroughEpisode IX, but after a year of collaboration with directorJ.J. Abrams, Ardnt and Lucas’ draft ofEpisode VIIwas scrapped in favor of a new story penned by Abrams andLawrence Kasdan. Meaning we’ll probably never see what Lucas himself had planned for the final adventures of Luke, Han, and Leia.
But he seems pretty OK with that. Lucas is eager to watchStar Wars: The Force Awakensas a fan, recently asking Abrams in a video what happened to Darth Vader’s grandkids. And in a continuation of that video fromVanity Fair, Lucas further explains why he’s not interested in directingStar Wars—or anything that will be theatrically released—anymore:
Okay so the Jar Jar Binks line is pretty funny, but it’s a bit sad that Lucas was so burned by the prequels response that he feels no desire to make films for public consumption. I mean, this is the guy who directedAmerican GraffitiandTHX 1138. Sure the execution of the prequels was kind of a disaster, but I’d still be interested in seeing a new film directed by George Lucas. Alas, it looks like that’s not meant to be.
What do you think, folks? Would you be interested in seeing anymore films from Lucas, or are you totally fine with the filmmaker retreating from the public eye? Sound off in the comments below.
