George Lucas on Star Wars sequels: ‘Things don’t always work out the way you want it’

A passage from The Star Wars Archives reveals what George Lucas had to say about the Star Wars sequels and departing from Lucasfilm.

Since being handed over to Disney, the direction of the new Star Wars canon has been nothing but hotly debated since their first movie, Episode VII: The Force Awakens, hit theaters in 2015. With George Lucas no longer at the head of creative development there, it was all left on people like director J.J. Abrams, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and even then-CEO Bob Iger to begin mapping out the new era.

What came next has been a mixture of different opinions on the sequel films, leaving some to wonder what would happen if George Lucas did have more involvement in the series from start to finish. It was revealed in 2019 in Bob Iger’s memoir that Lucas apparently felt “betrayed” and “upset” upon learning that they would not use his plans in their version of the sequel trilogy. But now, we’re getting to hear more from Lucas’ side of the story when it came to the selling of Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012.

A passage from The Star Wars Archives. 1999-2005 was recently shared on Twitter by author Paul Duncan (as found by Fantha Tracks). This 2020 book features an interview that Duncan conducted with Lucas, and the excerpt he shared on Twitter revealed the sentiments Lucas felt regarding his decision to completely step down from the company — as well as what he felt about the storyline for the sequels.

One of the most interesting parts from the interview is Lucas’ response to handing over the sequel trilogy. It’s a short response but a telling one at that:

"I thought I was going to have a little bit more to say about the next three [movies] because I’d already started them, but they decided they wanted to do something else. Things don’t always work out the way you want it. Life is like that."

Never the less, he still said in the interview that stepping away was “the right thing to do.” After all, he was ready to raise a family. And he knew from experience with Episodes V and VI that even if he tried to be hands-off while remaining with the company, he’d probably still be around quite frequently to check on production. He said in the interview:

"I’m one of those micromanager guys, and I can’t help it. So I figured I would forgo that, enjoy what I had, and I was looking forward to raising my daughter. Also, I wanted to build a museum, which I’d always wanted to do, so I was thinking, “If I don’t do this now, I’ll never get that done.”"

Surprisingly enough, we’re already about to enter the fifth year anniversary of Episode VII, and it’s interesting to look back on how the canon has changed since the introduction of that movie. (We’ll have more on that next week on Dork Side as we approach the anniversary). And at least in some ways, Lucasfilm has gotten the canon right, such as with The Mandalorian.

We’re also getting the 50th anniversary of Lucasfilm next year. According to Deadline, more may be revealed this Thursday about what’s on Disney’s slate for Star Wars. So we’ll see what else Disney is able to do with the Star Wars universe now that it’s solidly in their hands.