George Lucas’ Star Wars Episodes X-XII Original Movie Plans Explained

While the story of George Lucas’ long-lost sequel Star Wars trilogy is well known, what is perhaps less known is that he also had plans for episodes X-XII of the Skywalker saga. Over the six Star Wars films, the original and prequel trilogies respectively, it’s easy to see how things changed over the course of the story’s creation. Lucas decided to make Darth Vader Luke Skywalker’s father in The Empire Strikes Backand in the same vein, he also decided to make Luke and Leia siblings in Return of the Jediunlike the kiss in the previous film.

These changes have the legacy of being some of the Star Wars the best retcons, as well as some of the best in the franchise, although they also came from a fatigue Lucas had with his original vision. In this original vision, many things were different from what came to be. Many know this about Lucas’ sequel trilogy, which Disney refused to pursue after the purchase Star Wars of Luke in 2012, but this isn’t the only part of Luke’s vision that hasn’t been told. There were three more Star Wars episodes tooand they were part of Luke’s first vision.

George Lucas originally planned 12 episodes of Star Wars

The Skywalker saga had four trilogies to begin with

Long before Star Wars (later renamed A New Hope) even though it existed, Lucas created his initial draft for the story of his universe, which covered a total of 12 films. As he wrote his story, however, things began to change, as did the way he wanted to tell it – including how many films he wanted to create. In his original vision, there were only three trilogies, plus a prequel film, a kind of intermission in the middle, and a conclusion film.

This prequel film would be Episode I, taking the place of what is now known as Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. The next three films would cover the Clone Wars, much in the same way the rest of the prequel trilogy operates in the present day. Star Warsand another film would follow to help transition between this era and that of what became known as the original trilogy. A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Backand Return of the Jedi they would then have become Episodes VI-VIII, which are, of course, very different from their location today.

Another trilogy would have directly followed this one, which would have functioned as Lucas’s sequel trilogy. After Episodes IX-XI, Lucas had room for one more film, which would serve as a conclusion to the entire saga. This format is obviously different from what ended up happening, as those singular placeholder films – the prelude, the transition, and the conclusion – never happened. A lot of this had to do with Lucas’ tiredness after finishing the original trilogy.; It’s a miracle that the prequel trilogy happened at all, given the fact that Lucas initially had limited interest in continuing his story.

George Lucas’s Star Wars sequel trilogy laid the foundation for his episodes X-XII

A new generation would emerge

Although all the details of Luke’s initial Star Wars The sequel trilogy is unknown, it can be assumed that they were quite similar to the plans Lucas ended up making later. In Luke’s sequel trilogy, Luke’s mission would be to rebuild the New Jedi Order, while Leia’s would establish the New Republic. Leia would be a central character in this sequel trilogy, as it would eventually be revealed that Leia was the Chosen One, after all. This revelation would come to fruition after Leia managed to suppress a rebellion of stormtroopers and Darth Maul’s criminal coalition.

However, it was what was going on behind the scenes of this sequel trilogy that became the basis for Lucas’ fourth trilogy. Lucas imagined his sequel trilogy would take place just a few years later Return of the Jediwhich meant that Luke’s students were still very young – and still in great need of training. In his vision, it took Luke 20 years to fully establish the New Jedi Order, with Jedi old enough to become Jedi Knights, even Jedi Masters. This would have led to the final trilogy, which still remains a mystery.

Everything we know about episodes X-XII

How was the fourth trilogy?

Besides serving as the conclusion of the Skywalker saga, little is known about Lucas’ fourth trilogy other than what has been said by Mark Hamill himself. The Luke Skywalker actor knew Lucas had plans for four trilogies, and he even approached Hamill to ask if he had any interest in participating in Episode IX to pass the torch to the next generationand hence the next story. This would have seen Luke acting as an Obi-Wan Kenobi-style character, building a bridge between Luke’s story and those who would come after him.

Still, the original development of Lucas’ fourth trilogy is that they were not connected to the Skywalker saga, but functioned as standalones, just like its prequel, transition, and conclusion films. Lucas had ideas for a film centered on the Wookiees and another centered on the Ewoks, which have since been reflected in the 1978 film. Star Wars Holiday Special and the Ewok TV movies of the 1980s. If he was still talking about four trilogies to Hamill later, then it’s likely that Lucas developed something closer to his original vision by having four complete trilogies.

Anyway, seems very plausible now that Star Wars could be completing the original vision of Luke’s four trilogies. As news about Rey’s upcoming New Jedi Order film developed, Daisy Ridley revealed that things are “evolving“for this film, probably in the sense of it becoming a more complete trilogy rather than a standalone film. If that’s the case, then Star Wars has a chance to return to Lucas’ older vision of the franchise, perhaps redeeming itself a bit from straying so far from what Lucas envisioned in his original film Star Wars sequel trilogy plans.