”STAR WARS” :Whatever Happened to STAR WARS Episodes 7, 8, & 9 ?
Aug 18 '04
The Bottom Line 9 is fine, but 6 still clicks!
Like a lot of STAR WARS fans who have been with the movies since the beginning, I have wondered, along with many others, if George Lucas, the creator of the STAR WARS universe myth, will ever create and release any possible “sequels” to episodes 4, 5, & 6, which were the first 3 of the SW movies to be released: Star Wars (1977)
, which was later renamed A NEW HOPE; The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
;and Return of the Jedi (1983)
. These initial three movies became famous the world over and eventually came to be called episodes 4, 5, and 6 of the space mythology.
The “middle three” STAR WARS movies were followed by three “prequel” movies. The first of these is THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999 ), the second one is THE ATTACK OF THE CLONES (2002), and the third one, set for release in 2005, is titled REVENGE OF THE SITH
Note that while the first three films, begun with release in 1977, were three years apart (1977, 1980, and 1983, respectively). The fourth “film project”, Episode 1, was not released for 16 years after the last film of the initial “trilogy” was released. That 16-year gap is significant. The “Second” trilogy’s films are also released three years apart (1999, 2002, and 2005, respectively.)
In some ways, given the way the myth unfolds, it would seem artistically symmetrical to have three more films, episodes 7, 8, and 9. But will they ever be created? Some have speculated that yes, they would. Others have said no; that with Sith George Lucas, at 60 years old, will do no more with the trilogy.
So will there be more STAR WARS films?
For an answer to that, let's read what George Lucas had to say about the STAR WARS-making enterprise when he was only 39, back in May, 1983, with an interviewer named Denise Worrell, as recorded in her book ICONS: Intimate Portraits in a chapter titled The Dark Side of George Lucas. The interview was made just prior to the release of THE RETURN OF THE JEDI.
The first thing you notice in the interview is that making one of the STAR WARS movies is enough to make the film-maker never want to think about making another one. That may come as a shock to the average moviegoer who has never walked in the shoes of a George Lucas. But observe what the then-39-year-old Lucas had to say in the spring of 1983:
”It is hard to describe the amount of detail, the amount of work involved. It’s a three-year deadline with two years of really concentrated, serious work, ten to twelve hours a day, six days a week. There are two periods of four or five months in those years when the work is sixteen to eighteen hours a day. You get not much more than five hours of sleep a night. And that’s hard. On Sunday you’re wiped out and you’re still thinking about the movie. People usually don’t understand the implications of what I’m saying, living this way, day after day, but it’s awesome. You can do it for a couple of months, but year after year it gets to be grim. I’ve been doing it for God knows how long. It’s more and more pressure and I’m more and more unhappy, and tired and exhausted and dragging home endless problems at the end of the day. I’m not having much fun. It’s all work. It’s very anxiety-ridden, very hard, very frustrating and relentless. The extent to which one’s personal life is usurped cannot be overestimated. It has made me less of a happy person than I think I could be.”
So you thought you wanted to be a gazillion-dollar movie-maker deluxe, huh? I don’t think so. No wonder Lucas took a 16-year hiatus from making his STAR WARS movies. And if the second “trilogy” looks a bit less hand-crafted than the first “trilogy”, maybe it is the stress on Lucas which these films inflict on him that is the reason why.
So now you see how tough it can be on a person like Lucas to try to create a STAR-WARS type series of movies. What else did Lucas have to say--- about making a full nine-film series?
Well, strangely enough, apparently Lucas was idealistic enough at 39 to think he could see all 9 films come to life. After the 1983 interview with Ms. Worrell, in her book she said:
”If Lucas ever decides to take the story further, he will start by going back to a time before Star Wars began. He will then make a sequel to the Star Wars trilogy. Lucas can describe the stories, the plots, and who does what to whom in the three movies he calls the “prequel” to Star Wars..
(The “prequel” she refers to is the trilogy that (now) includes the three films: THE PHANTOM MENACE, THE ATTACK OF THE CLONES, and REVENGE OF THE SITH.)
Ms. Worrell continues: ”But he has only a vague notion of what will happen in the three films of the sequel…In the sequel Luke would be a sixty-year-old Jedi knight. Han Solo and Leia would be together…The sequel focuses mainly on Luke, and Lucas says Mark Hamill will have first crack at the part if he is old enough. ‘If the first trilogy is social and political and talks about how society evolves, ‘ Lucas says,’Star Wars is more about personal growth and self realization, and the third deals with moral and philosophical problems.. The sequel is about Jedi knighthood, justice, confrontation, and passing on what you have learned.'”
Clearly, in 1983, even though the work ahead might be Herculean, and might take his productive years from him, Lucas had in mind giving moviegoers both a prequel trilogy as well as a sequel trilogy of episodes 7, 8, and 9.
So will what he planned in 1983, at age 39, ever become a reality?
As I see it, there are three possible scenarios.
First (and I think this may be most likely), George may say, “You know what? I really am tired of this thing. I’m tired of people who don’t understand the strain of the creative moviemaking process carping about Episodes 1, 2, and 3. And as for STAR WARS itself? I don’t control it; it controls me. An ending of the whole shebang on Return works for me. Let’s forget about a dumb sequel trilogy. I’m going into the last part of my life and who needs these 18-hour-days for weeks on end? Get over it, fans!”
But then again, there is the second scenario. George may say, “Okay, full speed ahead. I’ve had this vision for a nine-picture opus all my life, and I’m going to finish it so everyone will be happy and shut up, and I’ll set a record that few if anyone will ever beat. On to Mark Hamill’s agent!”
Or try scenario three on. George says: “You know, The 6 pictures already made pretty well lock in the paradigms. I can outline everything important for the last three to come and turn them over to my protégé, or protégés, and then they can put in all those long nights and weeks while I chill out in Tahiti. I won’t kill myself, the movies will get made, and everyone will be happy. I’ll farm the whole thing out and be done in time for my 70th birthday!”
Well, even though my heart is with scenario two, my head is with scenario one. George has given us some great Star Wars pictures across the years, and although at 39 he may have intended to complete 9 epic SW pictures, I think the years and the strain and the general angst of being on the line of fire for so long may be just too much, and I wouldn’t blame him in the least for saying “Enough!”. In the summer of 2004 I am awaiting Sith like all the other fans, wondering how it will go toe-to-toe with The War of the Worlds.
I’ve enjoyed episodes 1,2, 4, 5, and 6, and I anticipate enjoying episode 3. I’d love to see George do 7, 8, and 9, but even if we just get six, that ought to do it.
…But on the other hand, George, if you're reading this, and if you’re still willing to do that sequel you talked about long, long ago and far, far away,…well here’s one fan who’ll be one of the first in line at the box office. Star Wars may be a part of you, but it’s a part of us too. May the Force be with you!
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