George Lucas already planned a sequel trilogy for Star Wars, but director J.J. Abrams revealed that Disney wanted to go in a new direction. At the time, the studio had just acquired Lucasfilm, and even without a concrete plan on how to go about the continuation of the story, they resolved they didn’t want the franchise creator’s concept.
Lucas was indeed disappointed with the sequel trilogy, and he admitted it was painful to let go of the franchise he built for decades. He even thought he could have a little bit of contribution to the new installments, but Disney was very much decided at that point.
J.J. Abrams Confessed Why He Did Not Follow George Lucas’ Concept For Sequel Trilogy
In an interview with SlashFilm, director J.J. Abrams revealed how he came up with the story in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He admitted being aware of George Lucas’ existing treatment, but he said the studio was already committed to a fresh start.
I came on board and Disney had already decided they didn’t want to go that direction, so the mandate was to start from scratch and tell a story that was the continuum.
The filmmaker could not measure how different his version of the movie was from that of Lucas, but he could say “that the spirit of it, the feeling of it, the continuum and telling a brand-new story set in a world that just like VI from V and V from IV would feel like a continuum.”
Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a massive commercial and critical success. It earned an approval rating of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed over $2 billion in worldwide ticket sales, making it one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.
Despite the film’s favorable reception, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed in his memoir that Lucas felt betrayed by the studio’s plans for Star Wars and “immediately got upset as they began to describe the plot and it dawned on him that we weren’t using one of the stories he submitted during the negotiations.”
Iger reiterated that he was very precise and cautious during their first meeting so as not to mislead Lucas.
George Lucas Laments The New Direction Of Star Wars
George Lucas said in his interview with Paul Duncan via The Star Wars Archives Episodes I-III that it was “very painful” to hand over the franchise to Disney.
I’ve spent my life creating Star Wars – 40 years – and giving it up was very, very painful. But it was the right thing to do. I thought I was going to have a little bit more to say about the next three because I’d already started them, but they decided they wanted to do something else.
Theatrical distribution issues and the rise of streaming were the main reasons he had to sell Star Wars and finally retire. With the creative rights now in Disney’s hands, there’s nothing he could do but accept whatever direction the studio takes the franchise.
Star Wars movies are available to watch on Disney+.
