Disney’s Star Wars sequel trilogy was divisive among viewers, but for better or worse, they actually adhered to many of George Lucas’ original sequel plans. Disney officially acquired Lucasfilm in October of 2012 and immediately began work on a new trilogy, set after the events of Return of the Jedi. The Star Wars franchise, at that point, had already thoroughly depicted the lives of the original trilogy’s heroes, their descendants, and their new enemies in non-movie material, so Lucasfilm rebranded all but the original six films and Star Wars: The Clone Wars as Legends and made it an alternate continuity. Disney’s Star Wars sequels ultimately followed many of Lucas’ ideas on a basic level, but without the same understanding and reverence for the previous films as Lucas might have had.
While the cast members and action scenes in the Star Wars sequel films pleased many, some of the more common criticisms of the movies were that they leaned too heavily on homage to the original films, becoming derivative in the process. While characters like Rey and Finn were wholly unique from the original trilogy heroes, scenes like Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s throne room sequence and the Battle of Crait felt like unimaginative retreads of other and better Star Wars films to some. The sequels also appear to have been inspired by the Legends continuity in some areas, though Kylo Ren pales in comparison to Jacen Solo’s characterization, and the Final Order was hardly a worthy substitute for the Dark Empire.
While George Lucas helped create one of pop culture’s most immersive and beloved franchises, the original and prequel films were, ultimately a collaborative effort, with Lucas’ occasionally questionable ideas being passed on by fellow writers. While working on The Clone Wars with Dave Filoni, Lucas infamously derided the practice of maintaining continuity. The sentiment is unfortunate, but The Clone Wars’ many contradictions of established Legends-era material proves that he and (to a lesser degree) Filoni put this into practice. Naturally, therefore, many of Lucas’ ideas for Star Wars sequels were not always consistent with each other. Nevertheless, and despite his questionable attitude towards continuity, Disney’s Star Wars sequels continued to follow many of Lucas’ general ideas. While whether this made the movies better or worse is up for debate, Lucas' legacy still hangs over the franchise. Here are some of the key narrative points that were influenced by Lucas' plans.
Rey Training With Luke Skywalker
In some of Lucas’ sequel plans, a Force-sensitive teenager, who might have been named Taryn, Thea, or Winkie, would have sought out Luke Skywalker for Jedi training. Lucas also detailed his intention to have Luke rebuild the Jedi Order, partially with survivors of the Empire’s Jedi Purge. Lucas never specified whether or not Luke’s endeavors would fail, but the aged Jedi would nevertheless be in exile when the Force-sensitive girl found him, and he’d be reluctant to train her as a Jedi. The girl’s relation to famous Star Wars characters, such as Han, Leia, or Palpatine, was also never specified.
This idea was a key component of the second Disney sequel, The Last Jedi. The Force-sensitive girl (a young adult in the films), Rey, sought out Luke to help her hone her newly-discovered connection to the Force, but Luke had failed to properly rebuild the Jedi Order, becoming a shadow of his former self. Luke’s motivation for going into exile in the film was questionable to many viewers, with his abandoning his friends, family, and the people of the galaxy and allowing evil to succeed being dubious when compared to his characterization in previous appearances. Lucas would have likely been far more creative when explaining Luke’s exile, giving him a purpose instead of turning him into yet another disillusioned, cynical version of a beloved hero, which has become a cliché in recent years.
Luke Skywalker's Death In The Star Wars Sequels
Lucas also intended Luke Skywalker to die in his trilogy, possibly in his version of Episode VIII as well, though Mark Hamill suggests that Luke was set to die in the final film in the trilogy. The context surrounding Luke’s death isn’t known, but this detail isn’t entirely surprising. Lucas introduced a new Force-sensitive hero and planned to focus on the children of the original trilogy as protagonists, with a reimagined version of Luke’s Legends-era son, Ben Skywalker, possibly being included in the Lucas sequel plans. Whatever Lucas was planning, he would have likely been respectful to Luke’s characterization and given him a fitting and heartbreaking demise.
The sequels, unfortunately, mishandled Luke Skywalker, having him ignore the beleaguered New Republic (and later, Resistance) after helping to create one of their greatest threats. This behavior would have been unthinkable for Luke, had his characterization been consonant with his original trilogy’s development, especially considering that he was among the few beings capable of posing a threat to Snoke and Kylo Ren. With the Resistance nearly destroyed, Luke dies of exhaustion after projecting an image of himself to distract the First Order’s forces. It was unfortunately too little, too late, and Lucas would presumably have been given Luke a far more respectful death.
The Star Wars Sequels' Focus On Vader's Grandchild
In one interview, George Lucas stated his intention to make the sequels about Vader’s grandchildren. While Skywalkers were hardly the only important characters in the Star Wars saga, Anakin’s gradual fall from grace was the core of the prequels and his children’s defeat of the Empire was the focus of the original films. Lucas didn’t specify whether these characters would be the children of Leia or Luke, but it’s fair to assume that there’d both start families after the events of Return of the Jedi. Legends-era material featured four grandchildren of Anakin’s, each joining Luke’s New Jedi Order.
The Disney sequels only gave Anakin one grandchild, Ben Solo, who later became Kylo Ren, a deadly Knight of Ren who was obsessed with his grandfather’s Sith Lord identity, Darth Vader. Kylo Ren seems heavily inspired by the Legends-era character Jacen Solo, who became a Sith Lord as an adult, but Kylo is a far less complex character who lacks Jacen’s compellingly gradual fall to the dark side. Luke Skywalker has no children in the sequels, likely due to him retaining the harmful and outdated practices of the old Jedi Order in his generation. Lucas might have had Luke start a family in his sequels, just as he did in Legends.
Why George Lucas' Star Wars Sequels Would've Been Better
Many of George Lucas’ ideas for the sequel trilogy were questionable, but these were, ultimately, part of early drafts for the films. Lucas’ story treatments for the very first Star Wars movie were quite different from the film that was released in 1977, so it’s not unreasonable to assume that Lucas’ ideas would be far more refined by the time they were finalized. Disney’s Star Wars sequel trilogy was well-intentioned, but it oftentimes didn’t understand or respect the characters or storylines from the original six films, resulting in a divisive series. George Lucas’ ideas may not have been perfect, but they would most likely be more consistent with their predecessors than Disney’s Star Wars sequels.