Breakups are hard. George Lucas seemed to learn this during the process of Disney's acquisition of the Star Wars franchise. The series creator finally parted with his landmark series (as well as his Lucasfilm legacy) for a cool $4 billion in 2012. Despite initial assessments that Lucas would be working as a consultant on the new chapters, he later confirmed that none of his advice was used in the creation of Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens. The film still set a new domestic box office record when it released last year, but Lucas seemed to have serious problems with the direction of the narrative and additionally called the film out for a lack of originality.

History trudges on. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story releases later this month, the first non-chaptered spinoff film from the series. Lucas is credited with pushing the idea of spinoff Star Wars films back before he sold the series, but whether or not Rogue One falls into his idea of how that should look is an entirely different question.

At the recent press conference for Rogue One, director Gareth Edwards revealed that George Lucas has now seen his movie, and it sounds like Lucas enjoyed it.

"Two days ago we got to show George the movie, and we all had a phone call and I got to speak with him yesterday, and I don't want to put words into his mouth, but I can honestly say that I can die happy now. He really liked the movie. It meant a lot. To be honest, and no offense to anyone here, it was the most important review to me. You know, you guys are important too, but he's kind of god... I will take that conversation to my grave. His opinion means the world to me."

George Lucas directs Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones

There are a couple of possibilities at play here, one of them simply being that Lucas simply has decided it's easier to swim with the stream than against it. His previous statements didn't prevent The Force Awakens from being wildly successful, or generally liked amongst fans. He may just not be keen to further alienate himself from his fanbase. On the other hand, he probably just earnestly enjoyed the film. Lucas has never been one to mince words. He's rich enough and successful enough that at this point he doesn't have anything to prove. That's a good sign for fans of Star Wars, whether or not they agree with all of Lucas' opinions. With any luck, it means that we're in for a treat when Rogue One hits screens later this month.

Stay tuned to Screen Rant for updates and impressions on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as they hit.

Source: Gareth Edwards

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