George Lucas Star Wars Return - What Will Happen

2. Why Did Lucas Sell Star Wars?

George Lucas Star Wars
Disney

In 2012, George Lucas made the shock announcement that he was selling Lucasfilm, and so effectively Star Wars as an entity, to Disney for an eye-watering $4 billion. 

His reason for doing so, apart from getting more money than God? He decided, at the age of 69, to pass the franchise off to other filmmakers so he could spend time raising his new daughter and, in his own words, "enjoy life for a while." And considering all he's given Star Wars fans over the decades, who can dare blame him?

Lucas later said it was "very, very painful" to sell Star Wars, and though he was kept on as a consultant for The Force Awakens and met with crews on numerous other projects, he has no legal creative authority over Star Wars anymore.

This was confirmed when, to Lucas' dismay, his original story treatments for Episodes VII to IX were ultimately discarded by Kathleen Kennedy and J.J. Abrams.

Though Lucas was publicly lukewarm on The Force Awakens' status as a thinly-veiled homage to A New Hope, he was however decidedly more complimentary towards both Rogue One and The Last Jedi.

Now that we know why Lucas decided to move on from Star Wars, albeit with mixed feelings, what would his potential return to a galaxy far, far away actually mean moving forward?

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.