I have a good feeling about this.
Sorry, had to do it. Anyway, it does feel pretty damn awesome to be writing about a new STAR WARS trilogy and knowing that it will be STAR WARS: EPISODE VII and not another prequel. Sure, I liked the prequels, but they did not live up to the expectations that I or any other fan truly had.
Now that we know STAR WARS: EPISODE VII will be released in 2015, we can begin to rampantly speculate on what the movie will be about. Many of you already have voiced your desire to see either the Thrawn novels or an Old Republic set trilogy. From these first sources, it looks like neither of those will be what we see on the big screen in 3 years.
For the longest time, Lucas denied his vision for a nine or twelve movie series. But, now that the man himself said the next trilogy is already in the planning stages, he seems to have contradicted himself. With that in mind, The Wrap spoke with Dale Pollock, author of Skywalking: The Life And Films Of George Lucas, who claims the original outlines for the next three films are the “three most exciting stories…they had propulsive action, really interesting new worlds, new characters. I remember thinking, ‘I want to see these 3 movies.’” He also states the Luke, Han, and Leia characgters would have been in their 30s or 40s. That would mean either recasting the iconic roles with new, younger actors, or advancing them to their 60s or 70s in the story to fit with the actors current ages.
E Online also reported a source as stating there are no directors or writers selected yet and that the films are fully original stories and not adaptations of any comics or novels. So, that rules out Thrawn and many other dream stories for us fans. Granted, Disney doesn’t have to abide by the existing treatments unless that is somewhere in the language of the merger. I would think Lucas would be open to changing the plan, but as was stated yesterday, Disney is locking in these first three movies for 2015, 2017, and 2019 and plan to continue making more every 3 years after that. So, even if Thrawn or Old Republic stories do not get made within the next 7 years, that doesn’t mean they never will.
No one will be fully satisfied with STAR WARS: EPISODE VII unless it is the complete opposite of the prequels. Knowing that Lucas will not write or direct these new films definitely puts a lot of fans at ease. It remains to be seen what the plans will be, but you can be sure we will let you know. With such a short time before the first film will hit theaters, expect lots to develop over the next months include writers, directors, and casting announcements.