The Star Wars saga has a history full of ups and downs, and its creator, George Lucas, has been the target of a lot of criticism – but now that the Skywalker saga has come to an end, Star Wars fans have finally forgiven him for his past mistakes. The Star Wars universe began in 1977 with the film now known as Star Wars: A New Hope, the first installment of what would become a saga of nine films and the starting point for one of the biggest and most profitable franchises in the entertainment industry.

The history of the Star Wars film saga is divided in three: the original trilogy, the prequels, and the sequels. The first trilogy has a special place in the hearts of fans and is regarded as the best in the saga, especially Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. In the late 1990s, George Lucas continued expanding the Star Wars universe with the prequel trilogy, which focused on the life of Anakin Skywalker, from his days as a young slave in Tatooine, to his rise as Sith lord Darth Vader.

Related: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Is Not The Ending Of George Lucas' Story

The prequels, written and directed by Lucas, failed to recreate the success of the original films, and were heavily criticized (and even ignored) for years. Following the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney, the Mouse House began working on a new trilogy, starting in 2015 with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The sequels and the saga as the world know them came to an end in 2019 with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which polarized critics and fans even more than Star Wars: The Last Jedi did in 2017. The sequel trilogy wasn’t the big Star Wars return fans were expecting, prompting them to look back at the rest of the saga and “forgive” George Lucas in the process.

Why Star Wars Fans Turned Against George Lucas

As mentioned above, the original trilogy is very special to Star Wars fans, and George Lucas has been making changes to it pretty much since it was released. Some have been as subtle as adding more explosions and special effects here and there; others, however, messed with the characters and certain scenes. One that has been endlessly criticized (and mocked) is the Han/Greedo scene at the Mos Eisley cantina, with Han’s head digitally altered to dodge the shot and the addition of Greedo’s final word, “maclunkey”, among other changes. Another infamous addition was Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker’s Force Ghost in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, replacing Sebastian Shaw. All these changes even left some mistakes in some versions of the original trilogy, such as colorless lightsabers.

Lucas meddled with the original trilogy for different reasons: to give it the look he envisioned from the beginning, to match with the prequels, etc. Speaking of the prequels, these are what sealed fans’ hatred towards Lucas. The concept for the prequels is good – exploring and expanding Darth Vader’s story was something the Star Wars universe could really use, and fans were eager to know more about the character. It was good in paper, but not in practice. Furthermore, the prequels showed Lucas’ poor directing skills, and not even the talents of Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, and Samuel L. Jackson could save the films. For fans, the prequels were the worst thing to happen to the Star Wars saga at the time, and the one to blame was, of course, George Lucas.

The Prequels Have Been Forgiven, And Lucas With Them

Hayden Christensen Ian Macdiarmid and George Lucas

Time heals all wounds and that’s the case for the Star Wars prequels. The arrival of the sequel trilogy prompted fans to revisit the prequels, and with that has come a radical change in the opinions of many. For example, recent reevaluations of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace have made fans find some silver linings among the mess (though forgiveness for Jar Jar Binks hasn’t happened yet), and others have simply chosen to redirect their hate towards Disney’s sequel trilogy. There’s also the nostalgia factor, which plays a big role in the reevaluation of the prequels. To many, the prequel trilogy was their first approach to the Star Wars universe, and that’s enough to “forgive” them and Lucas, in the process.

Related: George Lucas' Cancelled Star Wars TV Show Kept The Prequels Alive

Disney Star Wars Has Made Lucas Look Better

George Lucas and Star Wars The Last Jedi Luke Death

Perhaps what has played a bigger role in the process of fans making their peace with George Lucas are his plans for a sequel trilogy, which obviously never happened. Lucas started working on ideas for a final set of films before the original trilogy was complete, and many of those ended up being not useful anymore once Return of the Jedi happened. Still, he had a plan for a sequel trilogy in which the focus was Luke’s life as a Jedi Knight, and even included Luke training Leia in the ways of the Force. His sequel films would have also explored the scientific side of the Force by getting into the “microbiotic world” and introduced creatures called “the Whills”, who feed off the Force and control the universe.

Once Disney acquired Lucasfilm, all these ideas were scrapped and the studio went for a trilogy that introduced a new generation of heroes (Rey, Finn, and Poe) and villains (Kylo Ren, Snoke, and General Hux), and had the original ones serving as mentors – though it rescued some ideas, such as Luke training Leia, even if it only happened in a flashback. It’s impossible to say if Lucas’ plans would have made a better sequel trilogy than Disney’s, but at least he had it all planned out, something that Disney didn’t. The Star Wars sequels went through many writers and versions, and each one ended up having a very different vision of what this universe is about, only proving that Disney didn’t have a plan for the trilogy as a whole. In that sense, George Lucas did things right, and even if the prequels weren’t the best, they were part of a plan that explored the story of the Skywalkers.

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Whether you love or hate the prequels and/or sequels, at the end of the day, George Lucas is the mind behind the whole Star Wars universe, and it would be very difficult (not to say impossible) for a franchise of this calibre to exist without flaws. The legacy of Star Wars goes beyond the changes he has done to the original trilogy, the reception the prequels have gotten, and how the sequels handled the story. George Lucas has a talent to create new worlds and a whole mythology to go with it, and ultimately, fans and critics will respect him for that, independently of the mistakes he has made in the Star Wars saga.

Next: Why Star Wars Fans Have Forgiven Hayden Christensen