Recently it was announced that Disney purchased Lucasfilm Ltd for $4.05 billion and that a new trilogy was in the works with a projected 2015 release date. Now, when this happened, the internet basically exploded with chatter about the deal. There was a lot of negative backlash over the acquisition (and maybe a positive reaction here and there), but now that the dust has settled, we’re all wondering what exactly are we going to see when the new ‘Star Wars’ movie hits the silver screen in 2015.
First of all, it seems that the new trilogy has been a reality for at least a year now. According to an interview with Mark Hamill in Entertainment Weekly, Luke Skywalker himself, along with co-star Carrie Fisher, knew that Episodes VII, VIII, and IX were coming since last summer, but they just kept their mouths shut. He admitted:
“Yeah, last August, (George Lucas) asked Carrie and I to have lunch with him and we did. I thought he was going to talk about either his retirement or the Star Wars TV series that I’ve heard about — which I don’t think we were going to be involved in anyway, because that takes place between the prequels and the ones we were in and, if Luke were in them, he’d be anywhere from a toddler to a teenager so they’d get an age-appropriate actor — or the 3-D releases. So when he said, ‘We decided we’re going to do Episodes VII, VIII, and IX,’ I was just gobsmacked. ‘What? Are you nuts?!’”
Eventually, Hamill came around to the idea similar to how some fans are starting to come around to this acquisition news. But when pressed for information about the new trilogy, he just knew that George Lucas would not be directing and that new people would be brought on to bring the galaxy far, far away into a new generation.
Enter Dale Pollock, the author of the Lucas biography titled ‘Skywalking: The Life And Films of George Lucas’. This man is one of the few people to ever see the private notes on the overall ‘Star Wars’ story. In an interview with The Wrap, Pollock shared this bit about the upcoming trilogy:
“It was originally a 12-part saga. The three most exciting stories were 7, 8 and 9. They had propulsive action, really interesting new worlds, new characters. I remember thinking, ‘I want to see these 3 movies.’”
He goes on to say that the story will focus on Luke Skywalker in his 30s or 40s, which would be 20 years after the original trilogy. However, a source from Lucasfilm tells E! Online that the story will be completely original. Many fans theorized that the Thrawn Trilogy, the cannon novels and graphic novels that focus on Luke, Leia, and Han after their movies, might act as the framework for the new trilogy, but apparently this is not the case.
The Thrawn TrilogyThe bottom line here is that we’re getting more stories from the ‘Star Wars’ universe and George Lucas will be solely acting as a creative consultant on them. Whether it’s the books, Lucas’ notes, or their own fanboy brains (because I hope whoever is brought on is at least a fan), we shall see where the new writers will draw from for this new story in due time.
What would you like to see in the Episodes VII, VIII, and IX? Share your thoughts in the comments below!