George Lucas’ Star Wars sequel trilogy ideas shared one major character’s fate with Disney’s films

There is perhaps no fanbase as rabid as that of Star Wars and perhaps no movies as talked about the world’s biggest sci-fi franchise. Or more specifically, what all the Star Wars movies get wrong, with the most recent trilogy arguably the most divisive of all. Though JJ Abrams launched the modern age of Star Wars with some exciting news characters and bold ideas, many felt that its poorly planned story arc and many retcons ruined the franchise and that these films did not do the Skywalker story the justice they deserved.

That final trilogy though was not the initial ending that creator George Lucas had planned but rather that of Disney which acquired the rights when they purchased all of Lucasfilm. Would Lucas’ ideas – which were also not well planned out in advance – have been better than what we landed up with?

Well, we will probably never know because an idea is not necessarily a working plan for a film. However, in a new book, Star Wars: Fascinating Facts (thanks to Star Wars News Net), we get some vague insight into what those plans were. And while the article doesn’t go into more detail about the plans, it does seem Lucas and Disney were aligned on one thing (WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD)…

…and that is the death of Luke Skywalker in Episode VIII. In fact, while Lucas may have wanted to take his trilogy in a completely different direction, the new trilogy’s overall idea of an older Luke who has gone into exile on a world where the first Jed Temple was built, was part of Lucas’ plans too. The manner of Luke’s death, nor his motivations for doing so, aren’t known, but it does appear that Rian Johnson’s divisive The Last Jedi, may have been pretty much in line with the spirit of Lucas’ plan – at least in the way it treated Luke Skywalker – even if the final product was vastly different.

While Disney did have a copy of Lucas’ ideas, they ultimately chose not to use them and forge their own path instead. One which many could argue they did not succeed with. Not that Lucas minds at all I’m sure, now that he can sit pretty for the rest of his life with all of that money he earned for the sale.

Who knows, maybe one day we might actually get to see Lucas’ ideas come to light and decide for ourselves which was better. I guess if we can have a Justice League Snyder cut happen, we can make this happen.

Last Updated: October 15, 2020