George Lucas Sheds Some Light On Star Wars Sequels

In the AMC TV special “James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction”, the longtime director speaks with many experts in the field of science fiction from directors to writers to actual scientists. One of the people he spoke with was George Lucas who discussed at length about the public’s fascination with the science fiction genre and how it led to the success of Star Wars.

A fan on Twitter, Livio Ramondelli, has pointed out that a book of the same name was released to accompany the series and it’s here Lucas goes into greater detail about Star Wars and more specifically what he had planned for the sequel trilogy, should he have made it. According to Lucas, it would have tied in more directly to 1999’s The Phantom Menace than the original trilogy, much to the chagrin of fans.

In the book Lucas says…

"The next three Star Wars films were going to get into a micro biotic world. But there's this world of creatures that operate differently than we do. I call them the Whills. And the Whills are the ones who actually control the universe. They feed off the Force.

If I'd held onto the company I could have done it, and then it would have been done. Of course, a lot of fans would have hated it, just like they did Phantom Menace and everything, but at least the whole story from beginning to end would be told."

Any longtime Star Wars fan will recognize the “Whills” reference as it was a major part of Lucas’ first Star Wars draft, which was originally titled, “Journal of the Whills”. It was abandoned of course but the original idea behind the “Whills” would never fully go away. Direct mentions of the “Whills” and the “Shamans of the Whills” would appear in novels and Star Wars encyclopedias and was even in the original screenplay for 2005's Revenge of the Sith at one point.

Most recently, the idea would make an appearance in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story where two characters from that film were part of the “Guardians of the Whills”, protectors of the Temple of Kyber and its pilgrims on the planet Jeddha. But up to this point the Whills were people, not creatures, so that's something a little different and not entirely apparent what he meant. But what is apparent is that he was prepared to run with his "midichlorians" angle to the end of his saga, something which most definitely would have caused a few head scratches.

While there have been past references to his initial plans, this is far and away the most detailed account of his concepts for what would have been the final trilogy of his saga. Seeing Lucas talk about the “micro biotic” world of the Force is a very intriguing idea and one that would have really thrown many for a loop, especially after the more material and grounded events from Return of the Jedi. The idea that he would narrow the point of view of the Force down to its most intricate and microscopic levels where plankton like "creatures" control the cosmic Force is really quite fascinating. How well that would have played on screen is another matter and something I guess we'll never know.

Till next time...MTFBWY.


For more information on this book, visit www.insighteditions.com.

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