George Lucas Reveals His Original Plan For The ‘Star Wars’ Sequel Trilogy

On November 8, the highly anticipated book The Star Wars Archives 1999-2005 by Paul Duncan was released to the public. The book focuses on the information relating to the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, particularly the films Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Many readers, especially fans of the franchise can find useful information regarding details from on the set and behind the scenes. One notable detail that was revealed in the book is that the creator of the Star Wars universe George Lucas had a different plan for the Sequel Trilogy before Disney bought the property from him.

In the book, it is revealed that Lucas intended for Carrie Fisher’s character Princess Leia Organa to become the main character of the sequel trilogy. Mark Hamill’s character Luke Skywalker would be rebuilding the Jedi Order after the Empire had wiped them all out during the third film. Meanwhile, Leia would be rebuilding the New Republic and eventually becomes the “Chosen One” figure later in the story. Ray Park’s villain from Episode I: The Phantom Menace Darth Maul would be the main antagonist of the sequel trilogy with another Sith Lord named Darth Talon by his side. In the book, Lucas states, “Maul eventually becomes the godfather of crime in the universe because, as the Empire falls, he takes over.” This would have been very different from Disney’s version of the Sequel Trilogy, which had a completely unrelated story and instead ignored Lucas’ original pitch.

It is impossible to know how this version of the Sequel Trilogy would have fared against the one audiences actually got. With each of the films from the Sequel Trilogy proving to be extremely divisive among the Star Wars fan base, it is not exactly clear on if Lucas’ original version would have been better, especially since the Prequel Trilogy was originally panned when he had full creative control.