It’s no secret that George Lucas hasn’t always been the biggest fan of what Disney’s done with their Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. In fact, the studio’s even been pretty open about the fact that the filmmaker was vocally opposed to their approach to the beloved sci-fi franchise.
In his book The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, for instance, Bob Iger explained that Lucas felt there “weren’t enough visual or technical leaps forward” in J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens. Not only that, but Lucas was also notably absent from the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker. And while you can certainly understand why he’s taken issue with some of the recent movies, it seems both parties are hoping to soon get back into bed together.
A few weeks ago, we told you that Lucasfilm wants George to return and help out with the franchise in more of an official capacity, following his assistance with the aforementioned Rise, which was done more as a favor to J.J. than anything else. And while it’s still unclear if it’ll happen, we’ve now received another update on the situation, which points to Lucas being down to return, but on one condition.
According to sources close to We Got This Covered – the same ones who informed us that [SPOILERS] would die in The Rise of Skywalker and that [SPOILERS] would be revealed as a traitor in the film, months before the movie hit theaters – Lucas has said he’ll return but only if he has full creative control over the franchise. From what we’re told, he thinks the studio has made a mess of it and feels he needs a great amount of control to get it back on track.
Not only that, but he also wants to bring along Dave Filoni – responsible for The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels – with him to help turn things around, with the idea being to have the fan favorite act as George’s right-hand man. That all being said, our sources – who also revealed the big Palpatine twist in Rise way back in September – say that there’s some resistance from Disney in regards to George’s proposal, and understandably so.
After all, Kathleen Kennedy is still the boss over at Lucasfilm – for now, at least – and while they would love to have Lucas involved again, they want him as more of an advisor/consultant. It’d still be an official role and he’d be very involved in future projects, but they’re not willing to give full creative control at this time. And that’s where things stand for now.
If we had to guess, George Lucas will eventually make his way back to Star Wars, but in what capacity remains to be seen. With Kennedy very likely on her way out, though, and Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige also said to be interested in taking over the sci-fi property, you can expect some major changes for the brand over the next few years.
