Written By Kieran Bugg • U.K. Editor
George Lucas’ original Star Wars sequel trilogy plans teased the return of Darth Maul, a galaxy in chaos and a twist on the Chosen One prophesy.
Much like how the prequel trilogy was received upon release, Disney’s Star Wars sequels ultimately polarised fans with it’s lack of direction and divisive creative decisions. While The Force Awakens was universally praised and is considered the latest trilogy’s strongest entry, the movie has since been criticised for playing it too safe and rehashing key plot points from the original Star Wars movie.
The Last Jedi was when the toxic side fandom truly began to emerge from the darkness as director Rian Johnson made some very controversial decisions with the film’s story and characters. By the time The Rise Of Skywalker released, it felt as if any anticipation for Star Wars had been dropped into the Sarlacc Pit.
This left many wishing that franchise creator George Lucas was brought back to helm the sequels. Unfortunately, that ship had long since made the jump into hyperspace.
George Lucas’ Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Plans Revealed
Image: Lucasfilm
Nonetheless, a resurfaced conversation with Lucas has detailed what his plans were for a potential sequel trilogy before Disney bought out Lucasfilm. In comments first published in The Star Wars Archives – Episode I – III, 1999 – 2005 which have been shared by SFFGazette.com, George Lucas discussed what he originally had envisioned for his own sequel trilogy.
It would’ve involved the remnants of the Empire create their own rebellion against the newly formed Galactic Republic. Lucas’ comments were:
“After the Rebels won, there were no more stormtroopers in my version of the third trilogy. I had planned for the first trilogy to be about the father, the second trilogy to be about the son, and the third trilogy to be about the daughter and the grandchildren. Episodes VII, VIll, and IX would take Ideas from what happened after the Iraq War…the stormtroopers refuse to give up when the Republic win. They want to be stormtroopers forever so they go to a far corner of the galaxy, start their own country, and their own rebellion.”
In addition, it’s been revealed that Darth Maul would’ve been the main villain of Lucas’ sequel trilogy.
Maul originally returned as a major antagonist in the cartoon series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and spiritual successor Star Wars: Rebels. Moreover, the character even had a surprise cameo appearance in 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story.
George Lucas intended to have Maul take advantage of the chaos by bringing all the crime syndicates together while also training his own Sith apprentice. He continued:
“Gangsters, like the Hutts, are taking advantage of the situation, and there is chaos. The key person Is Darth Maul, who had been resurrected in the Clone Wars cartoons – he brings all the gangs together. One is with a set of cybernetic legs like a spider, and then later on he has metal legs and he was a bit bigger, more of a superhero. Darth Maul trained a girl, Darth Talon, who was in the comic books, as his apprentice. She was the new Darth Vader, and most of the action was with her. So these were the two main villains of the trilogy. Maul eventually becomes the godfather of crime in the universe because, as the Empire falls, he takes over.”
Furthermore, a twist on the famous Chosen One prophesy which centred on Anakin Skywalker in the prequels and then Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy was also planned.
Lucas’ sequels would’ve revealed that Luke’s twin sister Leia Organa would’ve been the Chosen One this entire time. He explained:
“The movies are about how Leia – I mean, who else is going to be the leader? – is trying to build the Republic. They still have the apparatus of the Republic but they have to get it under control from the gangsters. That was the main story. By the end of the trilogy, Luke would have rebuilt much of the Jedi, and we would have the renewal of the New Republic, with Leia, Senator Organa, becoming the Supreme Chancellor in charge of everything. So she ended up being the Chosen One.”
George Lucas’ Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Plans Revealed
Image: Lucasfilm
All this sounds like it would’ve been an interesting alternative to what we got. It more than certainly would’ve been a better direction for Luke and Leia’s respective stories.