Date Posted: 5/14 7:15pm Subject: George Lucas and the Sequel Trilogy to Star Wars, Episodes VII, VII and IX
George Lucas and the Sequel Trilogy to Star Wars, Episodes VII, VII and IX
By Michael Kaminski
May 14th, 2005
With Revenge of the Sith about to be released, many people have been reflecting on the future of Star Wars. Two television series have been announced, which will cover the time span between episodes III and IV, detailing the consolidation of the Empire and the birth of the Rebel Alliance. I think it is safe to say that these television shows, and any others that may follow (and it is likely that, eventually, there will be more) will be tangent to the main star wars storyline, that they will cover side events that the current films don’t have time to show. The more important issue, of course, is the main storyline itself: the film series. Now that the first three films are complete, are there more films to come, perhaps covering the post-Return of the Jedi era? For decades, and indeed today still, many have been waiting for the long-delayed episodes VII-IX, detailing the mysterious aftermath of the original trilogy. But now it seems, at least for the time being, that the third trilogy will never be, as Lucas has says that when Revenge of the Sith hits theatres, Star Wars is complete. Star Wars, he says, was always supposed to be six chapters. Many of course are confused. Where and when did the “nine chapters” myth come from? Lucas himself, of course. Up until the release of The Phantom Menace, Lucas made reference to an eventual sequel trilogy, but now it seems he has changed his mind. He now contends that Star Wars is the story of Anakin Skywalker—his rise, fall and redemption. Indeed, that certainly is the case now, and a third trilogy would very much be ancillary now that Anakin is dead and his character arc complete.
This essay is meant to document the original genesis of the sequel trilogy, its transformation and various forms that occurred over the years, and finally, its cancellation. The reason this is necessary is because Lucas himself, perhaps confused with all of the various ideas and back-and-forths over the years, but more likely trying to find a legitimate reason to back out of doing them, sincerely contends that he never really wanted to do a sequel trilogy and that it was more of a media concoction.
Interviews and quotes from him, beginning with the release of Star Wars (A New Hope) way back in 1977, suggest otherwise. To get a true story, these quotes must be pieced together, and when one does that you get the true picture. Some amount of interpretation is necessary, but a fairly accurate understanding of history is available.
To make things easy, this is my analysis, based on all available information.
The sequel trilogy was never laid out, was never really written about by Lucas except for some general notes later on (post-Empire Strikes Back), and was more simply general speculation in his own head. First, he wrote ANH. In order to do that, a backstory is created, detailing the rich history which leads into the film; Lucas’s claims of this are true, and much of the Prequel Trilogy was detailed back in the days of the Original Trilogy. However, it was still much different than it is today, and was still only the broad strokes, most of which occur in a single film, Episode III. In fact, Lucas has recently stated (in Empire Magazine, May 2005) that episodes I and II each contain only 20% of his original prequel treatment from the 70’s and 80’s, and that episode III constitutes 60%; most of the prequel is made up as he wrote the scripts. In addition, a crucial element was missing: Anakin’s fall to the dark side. Luke’s father (who wasn’t named Anakin back then) was a famed pilot and friend of fellow jedi Obi Wan Kenobi. Although I am sure Lucas had quite a few notes, the broad strokes were given to us in ANH: the jedi were guardians of peace and justice in the old days; Luke’s father was a pilot, jedi and friend to Obi Wan; Obi Wan had a student, a man named Darth Vader; Darth Vader turned to evil and helped the Empire exterminate the jedi; Darth Vader murdered Luke’s father in his quest to eliminate the jedi.
That was pretty much all there was, and it was given to us in the film (additional notes of his detailed the rise of Palpatine, who was not a sith but merely a power-hungry politician, and possibly the clone wars). When Lucas decided to make Vader and Luke’s father the same person (around 1978, during the second draft of Empire Strikes Back), he re-worked the history and named him Anakin. Anakin battled his former master Obi Wan above a volcano and lost, falling into the lava and becoming horribly wounded to the point where he needed to be encased in an armoured life support system.
So, back to 1977—Lucas has a few notes on the events which occur before ANH, comprising of the information Obi Wan speaks of in the film. Lucas has previous drafts of ANH which contain many exciting sequences and ideas, which he plans on incorporating into sequels—two more in fact, since he retained the sequel rights for two more films. Planning on the film to be a disaster, he begins thinking of another low-budget serial-style episode similar to ANH when luck strikes him—Star Wars is a huge success! Knowing that he can now have the power to do grand, epic-scale sequels, he instead begins thinking of a much larger idea. Instead of thrilling, more stand-alone adventures, the way ANH was (and the way Indiana Jones would be) he decides he has the money and support to do a large story, similar to the epic first drafts of ANH which would not fit into one film. He puts his low budget ANH sequel aside and gives it to Alan Dean Foster, who turns it into the first EU novel Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, and gets to work on his new epic. He already has a back story outlined—he decides that ANH will be the fourth film in the series, and that the first three would detail the days of the jedi and Obi Wan’s adventures. The next films would cover the epic struggle of the Empire and the Rebellion, and occur across nine films. He doesn’t have a specific story for any of them, but with ANH on its way to becoming the most successful film of all time, a multi-film epic that emulates the serial-episodes of the 1930’s is too good to pass up; nine films he reasons is enough. Interviewers inevitably ask him about the future of Star Wars, to which Lucas explains his plans of a nine film series, which the press eats up. Excited about his new success, Lucas even revises his plans, and talks of doing a 12 part series. However, reality sets in, and he realizes that 12 films would be too much work. He eventually settles on nine, and begins work on the sequel to ANH.
After writing the story with Leigh Brackett, Lucas grows unsatisfied, and following the co-writer’s death, Lucas starts over and changes the history he laid out in ANH. He makes Vader the father of Luke, and meanwhile had invented the back story of the Sith, which was incorporated into Foster’s ANH novelisation and some of the Marvel comic series, and decides that the Emperor is now an evil Sith lord, with Vader as his apprentice. He then comes up with a rough outline for the series.
Episode V would have Luke train with master Yoda and confront Darth Vader, who reveals that he is in fact, Luke’s father. Meanwhile, Obi Wan returns as a ghost, the audience is given their first tease of the emperor in the form of a hologram, and Yoda mentions a mysterious “Other”. The rest of the series was much vaguer, but a few key story points were decided on. Vader would continue to try to lure Luke to the dark side; Luke would become a jedi knight; the mysterious “Other” would show up—the last jedi, hidden away all these years and possibly Luke’s sister; Had Abbadon, the Imperial City would be seen; finally, in Episode IX, the emperor would appear in the flesh, and would be destroyed.
Episode V continued to be worked on, eventually completed and released as The Empire Strikes Back. However, Lucas has become weary after the trials and tribulations of the troubled production, and begins to dread the prospect of doing seven more films. Once again, reality takes over and he realizes his original plan was a little unrealistic. Firstly, the enormous time frame of making a film dictates that if Lucas filmed continuously, the series would not be completed until 2004. Secondly, the actors themselves were beginning to tire of the series, and Lucas had them under contract only for Episodes IV-VI, and it was not likely that they would commit to doing another three films, at least not immediately. Therefore, he had to bring the series to a conclusion with Episode VI—if there were to be any more films, they would have to detail a new storyline. He took his ideas for episodes VII-IX and condensed them all into episode VI. The “other” is revealed as Luke’s sister, who is also Princess Leia. Vader and Luke confront each other again, with Vader trying to sway Luke to the darkside. The Emperor is revealed, and finally destroyed. The Imperial City is dropped from the final draft as being too costly, and the emphasis is then placed on Darth Vader. The focus becomes Luke trying to turn his father back from evil, and Darth Vader’s conflicting emotion regarding his son and the Emperor. Some of the back story is revealed, and also expanded to accommodate the story changes: Obi Wan reveals he had lied originally. Darth Vader was once Anakin Skywalker, and Obi Wan took it upon himself to train him in the jedi arts. Vader was seduced by the dark side however, and became Darth Vader, siding with the Emperor. Unbeknownst to him, he had two twin children. Knowing that if Vader or the Emperor learned of them, they would be in danger, they were hidden away.
With Darth Vader redeemed and killed, the Emperor vanquished, the Imperial forces defeated and the Rebellion victorious, the series seemed to be wrapped up nicely
Tired of Star Wars, having had much stress during the films’ productions, and suffering from a recent divorce, Lucas decides to take a few years off of star wars. However, the prospect of doing more films still tantalizes him; with the original film re-titled Episode IV: A New Hope, the three prequel films seemed inevitable, and he planned on doing them first, though he would spend over a decade running his various companies, producing films and television and waiting for computer technology to develop before he would tackle them. Around 1980, he had considered making the third trilogy about a character who survives Episode III only to reappear after the destruction of the Empire; what the details of this plot were and who the character was, we may never know. The idea was soon dropped.
With the Star Wars Trilogy seemingly finished, the issue of the Sequel Trilogy still loomed though, and Lucas had teased fans with promises of them for years. With ROTJ altering the story significantly, he began to re-think his plans. With Vader and the Emperor dealt with, the story would have to focus on Luke and co. as they grew older and began to rebuild the galaxy as a new Republic. With no real story in mind, the third trilogy remained only as musings and a few notes Lucas would make here and there. Lucas had grown tired of making star wars, and even ROTJ was completed under somewhat obligatory conditions; Lucas was interested in other things, and contemplated whether or not he should return one day to the star wars universe. (He even contemplates selling the franchise and having other directors finish his saga, but quickly dismisses the idea—as much as he dreads doing another six films, he does not have the heart to abandon his saga). It seems he wants to be done with the series, but feels chained to it, resulting in the back-and-forth quotations regarding future episodes, leading to some confusion amongst the public.
As time wore on, he began to question whether a third trilogy was feasible or necessary. The prequel’s still enticed him—they fit into the pre-existing story of Episodes IV-VI, and he already had a general plot outline for them. The sequel trilogy however, remained much vaguer, and much harder to justify. With the star wars series fading from public memory by the late 80’s, Lucas all but gave up on the sequels.
By the time the 1990’s came around, Lucas began expanding the star wars mythos to the realm of novels (although a few had been written in the 70’s, such as Splinter of the Mind’s Eye and the Han Solo Adventures). Perhaps fearing that the sequels will never happen, Lucas allows stories to be written which take place post-ROTJ. Author Timothy Zahn is hired to write a sequel trilogy. Unlike the later EU novels, Lucas worked closely with Zhan, in order to develop a story that was more to Lucas’ vision. The two have story conferences and concept meetings, and, eventually, this trilogy of books becomes the sequels that Lucas never filmed. Jedi Mara Jade substitutes for the “Other” Yoda spoke of, Admiral Thrawn becomes the new Emperor-like villain, C’baoth becomes the new Vader-like villain, Luke begins to build a New Jedi Order, and a New Republic struggles to be built against the chaotic post-Empire backdrop.
The three novels feature clones, something Lucas was fond of, as evident of his reference to the mysterious “clone wars” (he also secretly concluded that the Stormtroopers were derived from clones, a fact which he didn’t incorporate into the films until the prequels), and set up a new threat, the biggest challenge of any Sequel Trilogy, in the form of Admiral Thrawn and dark jedi C’ baoth, who substitute for the Emperor and Vader.
Now looking back on it, the books feature many ideas Lucas had for the prequels as well as the sequels—the story mimics some of Episodes I and II, and especially III, but instead of having the good guys loose, they instead win. Perhaps in his story conferences with Zahn, Lucas developed much of the details of his prequel outline.
The books were released, and to his surprise, they were hugely successful, becoming national best-sellers! This spurned a renewed interest in Star Wars, and dozens of comics and novels were produced, all wildly successful. Lucas began rethinking his plans for future films—perhaps a sequel trilogy could be done after he got around to completing the prequels, perhaps detailing an older Luke and co. as Zahn had. It is possible that Lucas even considered filming adaptations of them.
Later on that year, Jurassic Park was released in theatres, and its revolutionary computer graphic special effects impressed Lucas so much that he decided the time had come when he could truly create whatever he imagined. He was inspired to begin working on the prequel trilogy, and wanted to follow it up with a sequel trilogy as well.
Shortly after, he made the official announcement: there would be six more star wars films, completing his original promise of a nine film epic.
Fans rejoiced and the press was intrigued, both of them prying for details, but Lucas could only talk about the prequels—which were at that point Obi-Wan-centric—seeing as he had no concrete ideas for the sequels. Likely he began thinking of some ideas and making some notes about episodes VII, VII and IX; whatever they were, we will never know I suppose.
By 1995, he had completed the first draft of Episode I. Writing the first film took much longer than the following two because he had the least amount of pre-existing notes on the story and because he had to develop the entire arc of all three films as well. With the creation of the prequels, the story inevitably shifted to Anakin. His original plan was to have Obi Wan be the main character, with Anakin’s fall seen through the eyes of Obi Wan. The dramatic tale of Anakin, however, naturally wound its way into the foreground—Anakin became the protagonist, and the entire series could then be seen as the story of Anakin Skywalker. His rise to jedi knighthood, fall to evil, and when viewed alongside the Original Trilogy, his noble redemption. A sequel trilogy was beginning to seem very superfluous and unnecessary—ROTJ had even more finality than before, now that the focus was shifted from Luke to Anakin. It is at this point that Lucas' tone once again changes back to doubt--"ask me later," he dismisses the question. Filming of Episode I occurred in 1997, the same year the Original Trilogy was re-released theatrically to huge success. Lucas returned to direct for the first time since 1977, planning to have others direct the last two as he had during the Original Trilogy, and by 1999, the film was released as The Phantom Menace.
The long process must have been difficult for Lucas, especially when the film was met with some harsh criticism from fans and critics alike. Lucas continued to be asked about the Sequel Trilogy, but Lucas was growing less and less enthusiastic about it, and he began to downplay the importance of the sequels, admitting that he had very vague ideas for the story. By the time he would complete Episode III he would be sixty-one years old. If he started the Sequel Trilogy right away, it would not be finished until he was in his 70’s, which basically meant that he would be filming Star Wars for his entire life, and would be virtually unable to do any of the experimental art films he had been eager to do since ROTJ.
By the time Episode I had come and gone, Lucas had realized that the Star Wars saga was about Anakin Skywalker, and when Anakin died in Episode VI, the story was over; doing a trilogy that did not involve Anakin didn’t seem to make sense. When asked about the sequel trilogy he would tactfully avoid the subject by sayings things such as “let me get through this trilogy first” and “I don’t want to worry about that until I am done this one”. However, it seems he had made up his mind to not do them, and fans seemed to suspect the same. Lucas would occasionally offer a “no” to the question when prodded by interviewers, but Lucas’ friends and colleagues continued to tell people that Episode VII-IX were still a strong possibility, and Lucas occasionally offered a reconsideration as well.
However, by the time Episode III was released, Lucas had finally gathered the courage to offer a definitive “No” to the question of “will there be episodes VII, VIII and IX”. Star Wars was finished.
In retrospect, it seems that Lucas was originally just too ambitious and excited after the success of Star Wars—people wanted more films and he wanted to do more films, and he shot his mouth off about doing twelve and then nine films, without anything more than vague ideas. As reality set in however, he realized he had made a mistake, and that he had backed himself into a corner with his promises. However, he truly did love making stories set in the Star Wars universe, and so he decided to force himself to honour his promise and try to make more. However, with ROTJ altering his original story plan and the prequel trilogy altering it once again and giving ROTJ a resounding conclusion to the saga, Lucas finally abandoned his plans of the fabled Sequel Trilogy.
Fans and the media of course could not forget Lucas’ tantalizing comments about future episodes, and the fact that friends of Lucas, as well as many Lucasfilm representatives, kept on talking about the upcoming Sequel Trilogy kept the confusion alive and well. Lucas didn’t officially ever say that there wouldn’t be a Sequel Trilogy until 1999, when the ambitious Episode I finally made him realize the saga was over with ROTJ; however, people like Rick McCallum and Steven Spielberg continued to talk of the sequels and only added to the debate. Lucas has finally gotten enough press time with Episode III’s release to get the word out loud and clear that Episode III is the end of Star Wars. However, he now claims that he never intended to make Episodes VII, VIII and IX, and that it was mostly a media creation, but of course this is not true. If you compare what he says during the Original Trilogy era to what he says in the Prequel Trilogy era, you can see two contradicting stories. Case in point—1980: “There are essentially nine films in a series of three trilogies…I have story treatments on all nine.” Versus 2001: “There's nothing written, and it's not like I'm completing something. I'd have to start from scratch. [The idea of episodes VII, VIII, and IX] was more of a media thing than it was me.” Just as in the case of “Vader was always Luke’s father”, Lucas has been doing a great job at covering up his previous statements. Thank god the advent of the internet can allow people like me to collect and consolidate and share information.
That is my very unofficial version of history. I am doing this merely to set the record straight and record an accurate history, as there is so much misinformation out there, especially since Lucas is trying to erase his previous history. For your convenience, I have tracked down every quote from Lucas himself, as well as various collaborators such as Gary Kurtz, on the subject. You can see for yourself how the story began and then gradually changed over the years. If you read them and then consult my essay above, I think you will see that my interpretation is indeed correct.
-----------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
FROM THE MOUTH OF THE CREATOR
(AS WELL AS OTHERS)
George Lucas, Rolling Stone Magazine, August 25th, 1977:
Lucas: “I think that the sequels will be much, much better. What I want to do is direct the last sequel. I would do the first one and let everyone else do the ones between. I would want to try to get some good directors and see what their interpretation of the theme is. One of the sequels we are thinking of is the young days of Obi-Wan. It would probably be all different actors.”
Time Magazine, 1978:
“Lucas has set up four corporations: Star Wars Corp. will make STAR WARS II, and then, count them, ten others planned sequels.”
George Lucas, L.A Reader, March 7, 1980:
Lucas: “STAR WARS is really three trilogies, nine films.....it won't be finished for probably another 20 years.”
L.A Herald Examiner, August 21, 1980:
“Lucas says he chose to start in the middle because the first trilogy is more plot-oriented, more soap-opera-ish.”
L.A Times, September 23, 1980:
“Lucas projects to end the Saga by 2004.”
George Lucas, Time Magazine, May 19, 1980:
Lucas: “The last trilogy involves the rebuilding of the Republic.”
George Lucas, Once Upon A Galaxy: A Journal of The Making of Empire Strikes Back, Alan Arnold (pages 247-8), 1980:
“Alan Arnold: Tell me more about the overall concept of the Star Wars saga.
George Lucas: There are essentially nine films in a series of three trilogies. The first trilogy is about the young Ben Kenobi and the early life of Luke's father when Luke was a little boy. This trilogy takes place some twenty years before the second trilogy which includes Star Wars and Empire. About a year or two passes between each story of the trilogy and about twenty years pass between the trilogies. The entire saga spans about fifty-five years.
AA: How much is written?
GL: I have story treatments on all nine. I also have voluminous notes, histories, and other material I've developed for various purposes. Some of it will be used, some not. Originally, when I wrote Star Wars, it developed into an epic on the scale of War and Peace, so big I couldn't possibly make it into a movie. So I cut it in half, but it was still too big, so I cut each half into three parts. I then had material for six movies. After the success of Star Wars I added another trilogy but stopped there, primarily because reality took over. After all, it takes three years to prepare and make a Star Wars picture. How many years are left? So I'm still left with three trilogies of nine films. At two hours each, that's about eighteen hours of film!”
George Lucas, Bantha Tracks, 1980:
“BT: At one point, there were going to be twelve Star Wars films.
George Lucas: I cut that number down to nine because the other three were tangential to the saga. Star Wars was the fourth story in the saga and was to have been called "Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope". But I decided people wouldn't understand the numbering system so we dropped it. For "Empire" though we're putting back the number and will call it Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. After the third film in this trilogy we'll go back and make the first trilogy, which deals with the young Ben Kenobi and the young Darth Vader.
BT: What is the third trilogy about?
Lucas: It deals with the character that survives Star Wars III and his adventures.”
Dale Pollock, Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas, First Edition, p. 146, 1983:
“He started anew with the middle story. It had the most action and starred Luke, the character with whom he felt the most secure. The first trilogy told the story of young Ben Kenobi and Luke’s father and was set twenty years before Star Wars. The final three movies feature an adult Luke and the final confrontation between the rebels and the Empire. The entire saga spans more than fifty-five years; C-3P0 and R2-D2 are the only common element to all the films.”
Dale Pollock, Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas, First Edition, p. 274-5, 1983:
“The most logical thing for George Lucas to direct is more Star Wars movies, which is precisely what he won’t do. He only completed the first trilogy, he says, because ‘I had a slight compulsion to finish the story.’ Jedi may be the last film George Lucas really cares about. He has little emotional investment in future Indiana Jones movies, or even in the next Star Wars trilogy, should it ever be made. Nothing will match the all-consuming sense of mission that he brought to the first three films.
…If Lucas made all six of the remaining Star Wars movies at three-year intervals, the story wouldn’t conclude until 2001.
There are times when Lucas is ready to chuck the whole thing. Walking across Elstree Studios during the filming of Jedi, he fantasizes selling Star Wars—the concept, the characters, and the plots for all six films… ‘I’ve always thought I did a bad job. This might make me feel better.’
Later he admits that the fantasy of dumping Star Wars is an escape valve, giving him the illusion he can always back out. ‘Emotionally, it would be very hard to do,’ he admits.”
George Lucas, Press-Telegram, May 18, 1983:
Lucas: “Now I've finished one book. And there may be two other books in my mind, but whether I start another book is not crucially important. The next book doesn't have anything to do with this book. Different sets, different actors. So it's not like I have to rush out and do another.”
Time Magazine, May 23, 1983:
"Though Lucas has no immediate plans for Han, Leia or Luke, that does not mean he will not come up with some in the next decade or so. If he does carry the story any further, he will go back to the beginning to make a prequel. Only after that ---and certainly not before the 1990's-- would he do the sequel and show what happens to the Star Wars trio after Jedi.
The sequels, the three movies that would follow Jedi, are considerably vaguer. Their main theme will be the necessity for moral choices and the wisdom needed to distinguish right from wrong. Luke, who will then be the age OBI-WAN KENOBI is now, some place in his 60's, will reappear, and so will his friends, assuming the creator decides to carry the epic further. ”
Richard Marquand, Prevue Magazine, 1983:
(Q: Has Lucas told you the story to episodes XII, XIII and IX and what do you think of them?)
Marquand: “I was knocked out! If you follow the direction and project into the final trilogy, you realise you're going to meet the supreme intellect, and you think, how is it possible to create a man who has such profound cunning that he can not only control Darth Vader, but the fate of Luke Skywalker? Control the destiny of the whole galaxy? You'll be amazed!”
George Lucas, ????, 1989:
Lucas: “I had taken two-thirds of the original script and thrown it away. In my mind I was saying, 'Gee, if this is a really big hit, then I can make a movie out of all the early material that I developed.' Empire and Jedi were what that first film was supposed to be. And after that I can tell another story about what happens to Luke after this trilogy ends...(talks briefly about PT)...The other one - what happens to Luke afterwards - is much more ethereal. I have a tiny notebook full of notes on that.”
George Lucas, French Premiere Magazine, September 1990:
Lucas: “In fact, Star Wars 4 was already in production when I began to work on Star Wars. Star Wars is a story, divided in three trilogies. It's a long movie of 18 hours, divided in nine parts. The next trilogy will be prequels, with events taking place some years before the current trilogy. The main characters will be, besides A Young Vader and a Young Ben Kenobi, completely new . The look will be different too”
George Lucas, French Premiere Magazine, 1993:
Lucas: “A New Star Wars movie will hit theatres before the turn of The Century. These will be prequels to the current trilogy. For The Third Trilogy, I don't if I will still be alive when comes the time to make them.”
Star Wars Screen Saver, 1994:
“Lucas says that Star Wars is a saga is story of Good VS Evil, divided in nine parts.”
George Lucas, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye second edition introduction, 1994:
“It wasn't long after I began writing Star Wars that I realized the story was more than a single film could hold. As the saga of Skywalkers and Jedi Knights unfolded, I began to see it as a tale that would take at least nine films to tell -- three trilogies -- and I realized, in making my way through the back story and after story, that I was really setting out to write the middle story.”
The Annotated Screenplays, Laurent Bouzereau, p. 120, 1997:
“At one point there were going to be twelve (episodes)”
Stephen Sansweet, 1997:
“I've asked Lucas about Episodes 7-8-9. Response: ‘Let's just get past the first three before we worry about the last three.’ ”
George Lucas, Disney Adventures Magazine, March 1997 (If I remember well, the questions asked to Lucas were by one of his daughter) :
Q. What about Episodes 7-8-9 ?
Lucas: “Ask me that question after I complete Episode 1,2,3 in the year 2003 !”
George Lucas, Montreal's Movies, April, 1997:
Lucas: “The next movies are prequels. It's the story of Darth Vader. The First one is a pretty light movie. It's the introduction and everything goes downhill from there. The Next three are more about who did what to who...Finally, there may be three more movies to conclude the epic some years down the road.”
George Lucas, Youth TV, 1997:
Question: Will Luke Skywalker ever get married?
Lucas: “Not in the next three, since is not born (laugh)”
Question: In the final trilogy?
Lucas: “Humm, I don't know.....I'm not sure which kind of characters will be in the sequels. Nothing definitive. We'll have to wait and see.”
George Lucas, interviewed by Leonard Maltin online, December 1997:
"Will we ever get to see Episodes 7, 8 and 9?"-- Gordon Elders, Newcastle, Quebec
Lucas: "Right at this moment, the answer is no. Once the prequel trilogy is complete I plan to put Star Wars on the shelf and walk away from it for good. There are many other kinds of films I would like to make."
George Lucas, The Unauthorized Star Wars Compendium, pp.13-14, January 1999:
Lucas: “What actually happened was I wrote this big script, and in writing that script, I wrote a back story to go with it. The script was vast, and I knew it was going to be difficult to film. So I said to myself, "Well, let me take this first act and I'll expand it." I knew it had to be fleshed out, so I took the other two-thirds of the script and put them on the shelf. I told myself, "Someday, I'm going to get back to those." This is partly what a writer does; you get an idea that's two big for one book, so you put the rest over there and you concentrate on this one part. That's what I did. I finished the first one. Some have said I showed wisdom in retaining the sequel rights, but the reason was I didn't want some clause in there that would make it virtually impossible to take the sequels anywhere else. I decided that even if the first one did not do well, by hook or by crook I would finish the other two.
The first film came out and was a giant hit, and the sequels became possible. Then people suggested we could do more than three, so I thought, "Gee, I can do these back stories, too." That's where the "Chapter IV" came in. Then everyone said, "Well, are you going to do sequels to the first three?" But that was an afterthought. I don't have scripts on those stories. The only notion on that was, wouldn't it be fun to get all the actors to come back when they're sixty or seventy years old and make three more about them as old people. That's how far that has gone, but the first six will definitely get finished.”
George Lucas, Juice magazine, May 1999:
Lucas: “No, no. [After Star Wars came out] somebody asked me if I was going to do a sequel. And I said, "I'm doing the other two parts to this one." And they said, "You're doing this trilogy-do you have any more?" And I said, "I've got a backstory, which I've got laid out. I could probably do that." And they said, "But are you going to do a sequel?" And I said, "I guess maybe I could do a sequel at some point." And that got turned into doing nine films. It's six films. It's really not nine films. It's extremely unlikely that I will go on and do any more.”
George Lucas, Wired Magazine, May 1999:
Q: What about the reports that Episodes 7, 8, and 9 - which exist in novel form - will never reach the screen?
Lucas: “The sequels were never really going to get made anyway, unlike 1, 2, and 3, where the stories have existed for 20 years. The idea of 7, 8, and 9 actually came from people asking me about sequels, and I said, "I don't know. Maybe someday." Then when the licensing people came and asked, "Can we do novels?" I said do sequels, because I'll probably never do sequels.”
Gary Kurtz, May 26, 1999:
THE FOLLOWING WAS REPORTED BY theforce.net:
‘Gary Kurtz, the producer of ANH and ESB, spoke at the Sci-Fi Expo in Plano, TX this weekend along with his daughters Tiffany and Melissa (as children they played Jawas in ANH). He shared with the crowd about meeting Lucas, leaving the Star Wars films and the original plans for the entire saga.
Back in the early 70s, Kurtz was looking to use the new Technoscope technology in an upcoming film. Francis Ford Coppola hooked him up with George Lucas who had recently filmed TXH-1138 with Technoscope. Kurtz became interested in Lucas' planned American Graffiti and the partnership was born.
When the time came to produce ROTJ, Kurtz was unhappy with the story direction Lucas was taking. He felt that it was too much of a rehash of the first films with no real challenges. At the same time, Jim Henson was inviting him to produce his experimental film, Dark Crystal, which he chose instead.
Kurtz gave TPM a mixed review as he was clouded by plans made for Episode 1 back in the early 70s. As someone involved with Star Wars from the initial concepts, Kurtz revealed the original intentions for the nine films as they were laid out BEFORE 1980. Very interesting.
EPISODE 1: Was to focus on the origins of the Jedi Knights and how they are initiated and trained
EPISODE 2: Introduction and development of Obi-Wan Kenobi
EPISODE 3: Introduction and life of Vader
EPISODE 4: There were seven different drafts of the film. At one point, they pursued buying the rights to Hidden Fortress because of the strong similarities. At one point, Luke was a female, Han was Luke's brother, Luke's father was the one in prison (interesting point for some debates) and the film featured 40 wookies
EPISODE 5: Once written, the screenplay of Empire is almost exactly what is seen on screen. The only cut scenes were those involving wampas in the rebel base (cut because of time and unsolved technical glitches) and about two minutes of Luke/Yoda Jedi training with no real dialog.
EPISODE 6: Leia was to be elected "Queen of her people" leaving her isolated. Han was to die. Luke confronted Vader and went on with his life alone. Leia was not to be Luke's sister.
EPISODE 7: Third trilogy was to focus on Luke's life as a Jedi, with very few details planned out.
EPISODE 8: Luke's sister (not Leia) appears from another part of the galaxy.
EPISODE 9: First appearance of the Emperor.’
"Q: Finally, were there plans for a third Star Wars trilogy and were there any ideas generated for those three films?
Kurtz: Yes, it was very vague. It was Luke's journey really up to becoming sort of the premiere Jedi knight in the Obi-Wan Kenobi mold and his ultimate confrontation with the emperor. That was the outline of it and all that happens."
From an interview with Lucas in 1998:
"The first film came out and was a giant hit, and the sequels became possible. Then people suggested we could do more than three, so I thought, 'Gee, I can do these back-stories, too.' That's were the 'Chapter IV' came in. Then everyone said, 'Well, are you going to do sequels to the first three?' But that was an afterthought. I don't have scripts on those stories. The only notion on that was, wouldn't it be fun to get all the actors to come back when they're sixty or seventy years old and make three more about them as old people. That's how far that has gone, but the first 6 will definitely get finished."
Ewan McGregor, Film Review Magazine, March 1998:
Q: What is the new movie called?"
A: “It's called 'The Beginning', funnily enough, as it's the very beginning of the 9 films"
Rick McCallum, 1999:
"Whether George only completes six of the nine part series or he actually ever really ultimately completes the nine, its really nine parts of one film that's one big saga about a family that happens to live in a galaxy far, far away.”
Steven Speilberg, 1999:
“George always wanted to make nine. He wanted to make the first three, then the prequels to those and then the last three and that was something that was part of his concept.”
George Lucas, interviewed by Johnny Vaugh on “The Big Breakfast”, July 16th, 1999:
“JV: The way I imagine it is that George has this great big leather book, covered in dust, it’s the chronicles of space and you’ve written the whole thing already and it’s complete in your own mind. Is that right?
GL: No, that’s wrong.
JV: You don’t have the complete story, mapped out from the start, all those years ago?
GL: No.
JV: Okay, nice one, so you’re winging it.
GL: No, I have a little story treatment, a little outline that says this happened here, this happened here and in the first one I had all the scripts but I had to rewrite the scripts so they went along because since they became three movies they had to have different structures and things but the ones I’m working on now was the back-story which I’d written out which was this was where he comes from, this was where he comes from, this is what the clone wars were about, it’s just a little outline that goes right through the plot of the movie and where the characters came from and what they did – it’s only about 7 or 8 pages.
JV: Oh that’s brilliant, all those people that think you’ve schemed the whole thing up, but in fact – George Lucas, he makes it up as he goes along.
GL: (laughs)
–LATER ON IN THE INTERVIEW—
“JV: Why did you go back to the start of the saga and didn’t finish the story of Luke, Han and Leia, etc. Will you ever finish that story?
GL: No, I won’t because ultimately this is all that I’ve had written, this is the back-story to the original Star Wars and I haven’t written any sequels and I’m too lazy to go out and do it.”
George Lucas, TV Guide,November 19, 2001:
“What would it take for you to do a third trilogy, with episodes VII, VIII, and IX?
Lucas: “Each time I do a trilogy it's 10 years out of my life. I'll finish "Episode III" and I'll be 60. And the next 20 years after that I want to spend doing something other than "Star Wars". If at 80 I'm still lively and having a good time and think I can work hard for another 10 years between 80 and 90, I might consider it. But don't count on it. There's nothing written, and it's not like I'm completing something. I'd have to start from scratch. [The idea of episodes VII, VIII, and IX] was more of a media thing than it was me.”
Do you know how many fans would be willing to feed you Cream of Wheat and wheel you around in your chair if you did?
Lucas: “I don't think that's going to happen. Time catches up with you."
George Lucas, Empire Magazine, September 20th, 2004:
“Rumours have been rife recently that George Lucas is gearing up to make Episodes VII, VIII and IX (that's seven, eight and nine for you Roman numerically-challenged types), continuing the Star Wars saga after the adventures of Luke, Han, Leia and the rest. Nice rumours, but they're a load of bull, unfortunately. Says who? Says Lucas himself, when we spoke to him recently at the Deauville Film Festival.
‘There is no VII, VIII, IX,’ he told us, exclusively. ‘There never has been. The story was originally intended to be IV, V and VI. But I had a back story which I found fascinating, and now you've got the full story from beginning to end. There really isn't any more.’ ”
Gary Kurtz, Empire Magazine, October 2004:
Q: Why was the back end of the trilogy made first, as opposed to the first three episodes?
Kurtz: “Well originally our deal with Fox was for a single film. George had written out elaborate notes for a very, very complicated story. When we read through the outline, it became obvious that it wasn’t possible to make the whole thing, both from an economic point of view, and from a time point of view. So we took one spot in the middle of the outline and said, ‘This is the most exciting thing, this is the most exciting part, we can make a film here.’ That’s what happened.
It wasn’t until Star Wars was nearly finished that Fox came and said maybe you could consider doing another a sequel. So, going back to the story material, George was able to say, ‘Yes, we can do two more.’ Then in the press conferences and discussions that were going on after Star Wars was released, the talk was of nine stories. There was enough story to do nine episodes, but they were in very, very rough outline forms, almost throw-away form. George wanted to work on other things, so after Return of the Jedi, he didn’t think about it right away.
Normally if you’re doing a group of stories, you start at the beginning and go through to the end and have the actors grow with you. But, here the only things that were consistent through all nine stories were the robots; no other characters carried through. So it almost didn’t matter what order you shot the films because you didn’t have the problem of the actors aging, except in the first three.”
George Lucas, Time Magazine, ????
“In the sequels Luke will be a 60 years old Jedi Knights. The sequels focuses mainly on Luke and Mark Hamill will get the first crack at the role if he's old enough. If the first trilogy is social and political and talks about how society evolves; the middle trilogy is more about personal growth and self-realization and the third deal with morals and philosophical problems. The sequels are about Jedi Knighthood, justice, confrontation and passing on what you have learned.”
George Lucas, Entertainment Weekly, ???? :
Lucas: "I'm not going to do it. I'm too old. I've got other movies I want to do. And I don't want anybody else to do it, so I've locked it up so Nobody can ever do it. There may be TV offshoots from people, but the saga itself, the story of the Skywalker family, is over!"
---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------
Special Thanks to Wedge45 and Frank_TJ_Mackey for tracking down many of these quotes!
Much of the information was gathered from this thread:
http://boards.theforce.net/Classic_Trilogy/b10002/3639474/Some of the quotes were repeated in this thread, still currently operating, but without citations:
http://boards.theforce.net/The_Star_Wars_Saga/b10456/15943856/?76Note: Most of the pre-90’s quotes I have not verified myself, because it is so difficult to have access to the original material. However I have seen these quotes before, both in reputable published sources from third-parties as well as Lucasfilm itself, and from other fans; if anyone can correct, update or add to any of these, it is much appreciated.
