‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ Writers “Took A Lot Of Notes” From George Lucas, Says Kathleen Kennedy
WhenGeorge Lucassold Lucasfilm to Disney back in 2012, he also sold the Mouse House some of his outlines for a new film trilogy. But when Lucas met withJ.J. Abramsand then-writer Michael Ardnt, Lucaswas upset to learnthat they were not using his ideas and instead had their own plans forStar Wars: The Force Awakens– a film that Lucas ultimately ended up not liking very much.
But it seems as if any possible bad blood may have been rectified, because Lucasfilm presidentKathleen Kennedyexplained that before Abrams and co-writerChris Terriowrote the script for next month’sStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, she (and presumably the Lucasfilm Story Group) sat down with Lucas and “took a lot of notes” about his ideas for how the Skywalker saga should end.
Speaking withEntertainment Weekly(viaThe Playlist), Kennedy explained:
“We sat down with George for a long meeting before we ever put pen to paper on this final episode, so we had the benefit of his thoughts. We took a lot of notes. As Yoda would say, there’s great responsibility that goes with doing this, and I think we all take that seriously.”
The wording and the timeline is a bit unclear: was Kennedy actually in the room for this meeting, or does she just mean “we at Lucasfilm” when she says “we”? Did this meeting include Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly back when Trevorrow was tapped to directEpisode IX? Or were J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio there? (Trevorrow and Connolly wererecently confirmed to be receiving “story by” crediton the film, even though they left the project long ago.)
More pressing to me, though, is the question of whether any of Lucas’s ideas actually made their way into the final version of this movie. We knowhe discussed the idea of including more midi-chlorianswith Abrams at one point; could he have also planted the seed for the Emperor returning in this new movie? Trevorrow says he had nothing to do with that plot point and that it was Abrams' idea. Considering how disappointed Lucas was withThe Force Awakens, could the inclusion of the Emperor be Abrams' attempt to create a story that would specifically satisfy the creator of this franchise?
As a reaction to what happened with his ideas forThe Force Awakensbeing discarded, Lucas seemed content to distance himself from the company:
“They weren’t that keen to have me involved anyway. But at the same time, I said if I get in there I’m just going to cause trouble. Because they’re not going to do what I want them to do. And I don’t have the control to do that anymore. All I would do is muck everything up. So I said, ‘Okay, I will go my way, and I’ll let them go their way.'”
I suspect the fact that this movie has to bear the weight of all eight Skywalker films that preceded it resulted in the team wanting to verify they had input from the man behind the first six of them. But the question remains: how many of Lucas’s ideas made the final cut?
Perhaps we’ll find out as we get closer to the release ofStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which hits theaters onDecember 20, 2019.
