Lucas has no interest in SW after events of ROTJ

[Darth Wong]

From an interview with the LA Times:

George Lucas: 'Star Wars' won't go beyond Darth Vader
The saga resumes in August, but don't expect any new ending from George Lucas.
By Geoff Boucher, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 7, 2008

Thanks to CGI animation, the "Star Wars" saga is coming back to theaters this summer -- but George Lucas said fans shouldn't get their hopes up about any future films that take the epic beyond the point of Darth Vader's death at the end of "Return of the Jedi."

In other words, it ends with the Ewoks.

"Whatever it is that happens afterward," the 63-year-old filmmaker said, "that isn't the core 'Star Wars' story that I like to tell."

The stories that do interest Lucas are the ones that take place before Anakin Skywalker dons the ebony mask of Darth Vader, which is why he and his 5-year-old Lucasfilm Animation venture will add a seventh feature film to the "Star Wars" canon on Aug. 15 with "The Clone Wars."

The movie has been produced with state-of-the-art computer-generated animation and voice actors, including Samuel L. Jackson, reprising his Mace Windu character, and Anthony Daniels as the familiar voice of C-3P0.

The fact that Daniels is back raises the idea that this new approach could provide a digital fountain-of-youth for other original trilogy actors, such as Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, who haven't been in the universe of the Jedi since they frolicked with the furry Ewoks on the forested moon of Endor at the end of "Return of the Jedi" in 1983.

If there's any force behind that concept, Lucas isn't feeling it.

"There really isn't any story to tell there," the filmmaker said. "It's been covered in the books and video games and comic books, which are things I think are incredibly creative but that I don't really have anything to do with other than being the person who built the sandbox they're playing in."

In the non-film versions of the saga, for instance, Han Solo and Princess Leia marry and have three children, one of them named Anakin after his notorious grandfather. All of it has been popular with core fans, but Lucas doesn't see any upside to extending the tale past the leafy luau on Endor where Vader's corpse was torched.

"I get asked all the time, 'What happens after "Return of the Jedi"?,' and there really is no answer for that," he said. "The movies were the story of Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, and when Luke saves the galaxy and redeems his father, that's where that story ends."

The "Clone Wars" film in August will lead into a weekly animated television series of the same title that will air on both the Cartoon Network and TNT beginning in the fall. The new film and series will fill in gaps between "Episode II: Attack of the Clones" and "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" with stories of Anakin, Padmé Amidala, Count Dooku and other second-trilogy characters.

" 'The Clone Wars' is a lot of fun for me, because in the normal course of the Skywalker saga, what happened during the Clone Wars is never told -- we see a little of the beginning and a little of the end, but other than that, it's skipped over," Lucas said.

"Obviously, during a war, there are lots and lots of stories, there's action, there's drama, there's heartbreak and sometimes there's comedy. Anakin was a part of the Clone Wars, so it makes a certain sense to tell these stories, because they ultimately do affect him."

So when we argue with EU fanboys and point out that George Lucas doesn't give a shit about most of the EU, we have some proof to back it up.

[Galvatron]

What about that old story about Lucas giving out copies of Dark Empire to his employees for Christmas as proof of his tacit endorsement of it?

[Havok]

What about that old story about Lucas giving out copies of Dark Empire to his employees for Christmas as proof of his tacit endorsement of it?

Assume you are being sarcastic? If not, just because he likes a comic or thinks it looks cool, doesn't mean he gives two shits about the EU.

I thought that this was old news. He has said similar things along these lines for a while now.

[Revy]

Doesn't one of the posters here even have a quote from Lucas saying the same thing in their sig?

TBH he seems a bit obsessed with Anakin. "There is NO story without Anakin! After he's dead, I'm just not interested. I'll gladly do yet another prequel from when he was still alive though - just so I can get more of my lovely Anny!"

Granted Vader was a great character, but Anakin in the PT was not exactly the hilight of the films Yet to Lucas he's the entire point behind Wars.

[VT-16]

Yeah, some passive-aggressive poster who's given GL the "cute" nickname "Evil", which confused me a bit whenever he posted it in the middle of a discussion. Relative of yours, Galvatron? :P

[Tiriol]

Yeah, some passive-aggressive poster who's given GL the "cute" nickname "Evil", which confused me a bit whenever he posted it in the middle of a discussion. Relative of yours, Galvatron?

Darth Hoth, I believe.

The article confirms beyond a shadow of doubt that Lucas isn't interested in the EU (and although the article doesn't spell it out, I believe that also includes the EU BEFORE the two trilogies). However, for those who are still interested in Star Trek versus Star Wars, it also includes the little nugget of information that Lucas doesn't consider the EU to be some entirely alternate and alien continuity or universe as some (Darkstar, I believe) would like to maintain.

[VT-16]

His position seems to be "I wouldn't do it like that, but don't really care, and since it's out there, it's there".

[Darth Wong]

What about that old story about Lucas giving out copies of Dark Empire to his employees for Christmas as proof of his tacit endorsement of it?

This new one would seem to contradict that. Even if he likes some of the material, it doesn't look like he has any interest in taking creative control of where it goes. So yes, it's licensed, and that means it has some kind of status, but it must surely be considered far beneath the level of the stuff that goes on in the movies.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

The statement simply means in many words, that this is his most indirect admission that the EU is just a cash cow.

Yeah, rock out EU maniacs, go fill his coffers.

[Galvatron]

Yeah, some passive-aggressive poster who's given GL the "cute" nickname "Evil", which confused me a bit whenever he posted it in the middle of a discussion. Relative of yours, Galvatron?

Nah, because "evil" isn't clever enough. I'd call him George W. Lucas instead.

[Darth Hoth]

Yeah, some passive-aggressive poster who's given GL the "cute" nickname "Evil", which confused me a bit whenever he posted it in the middle of a discussion. Relative of yours, Galvatron?

Someone called?

[Darth Wong]

At the same time that we realize individual story developments are of no import to Mr. Lucas, it is interesting to point out that he does still limit their behaviour to a certain extent, ie- he considers it his "sandbox" that they play in. In other words, he sets broad limits for what they can and can't do, but he doesn't particularly care about exactly what they're doing.

[Galvatron]

In other words, half-assed quality control.

[Darth Hoth]

If I recall correctly, Lucas caused an ungodly mess by implementing his own (prequel-era) view of the Jedi in the KotOR game, after the retcon of the Ruusan Reformation had been painstakingly pushed through to explain why earlier generations of Jedi were not as retarded as the PT showed them. All undone by His word. So yes, certainly half-assed. . .

[Pelranius]

His attitude pretty much seems to be maximizing profits at minimal costs. Perhaps Nute Gunray didn't die at Mustafar after all...?

[Galvatron]

I'm still waiting for him to get back to those small, indie films he's been saying he wants to make for the past 25 years.

[Coyote]

The more EU I tend to see, the more I want to chuck the lot, anyway. It seems that the idea of small bands of people, getting together and doing their own EU (like here or at SB or anywhere, for that matter), has as much sway and "truth" as the assemblage of hacks that hapopened to be famous and took a swipe at it over the last several years.

Most of the EU sucks, or if the ideas are good their execution is horrible.

[Sarevok]

If I recall correctly, Lucas caused an ungodly mess by implementing his own (prequel-era) view of the Jedi in the KotOR game, after the retcon of the Ruusan Reformation had been painstakingly pushed through to explain why earlier generations of Jedi were not as retarded as the PT showed them. All undone by His word. So yes, certainly half-assed. . .

That's interesting. What did he do to KoToR ?

[Darth Hoth]

Assuming that I recall correctly, the Bioware team originally wanted a more TotJ-esque Jedi Order, including the main character legitimately falling in love with Bastila and dispensing with some of the overt ideological retardedness of the PT Order (which, incidentally, would have fit continuity better). But Lucas somehow had final say on key plot points, and thus promptly enforced a strictly Prequelesque take on the Jedi, sending the Ruusan Reformation, continuity and good taste out the window. I read an interview on it in the Swedish edition of PC Gamer, not recalling the specific issue.

[VT-16]

Hmm, moving away from TOTJ storytelling doesn't sound too bad. That, and there's 3,000 years from KOTOR to Ruusan, so, what gives? No differences in Jedi policies from era to era?

[Darth Hoth]

Not that storytelling, the regulation of the Order of that era, and not quite TotJ at that - that was my description, not theirs. Basically, they wanted looser rules so that they could portray the Jedi as individuals rather than Lucas-style fucktards.

And yes, having exactly the same post-Ruusan practices 3,000 years earlier is a little strange.

[Havok]

Yeah sorry, but if Lucas wants to control his own creation and changed the licensed products as he sees fit, no matter the reason, he isn't fucking anything up, everyone else has to fall in line with him.

[VT-16]

Actually, Hoth, that's not my point. It makes sense for the order to change from time to time, like you describe it, it's actually interesting to see the norms go back and forth.

[Darth Wong]

Interestingly, Lucas defines "his" part of the story by the period in which events take place, rather than the format in use (unlike the situation with Star Trek, where one format is canon and the other one isn't). It's pretty clear he doesn't intend to restrict "his" core part of the story to just the 6 filmed live-action movies.

[Pelranius]

Yoda or whoever instituted the rules for the PT order might have had a badly romanticized view of the KOTOR order to repeat its mistakes all over again, just like fascists and fundies are stupidly sentimental about the Middle Ages and Mon Mothma was so in love with the Old Republic.