The Real Reason George Lucas Sold Star Wars & What He Originally Planned to Do
The Star Wars universe was almost completely different.
In 2012, George Lucas, who gave the world Star Wars, sold the rights to produce the films. The buyer was Disney, which paid more than $4 billion.
Lucas Wanted to Spend More Time with His Family
At that time Lucas faced the question of whether to devote the next ten years of his life to making Star Wars, or to spend more time with his family and his newborn daughter. At the time, Lucas was 69 years old; he would be 80 by the time the final film was made.
George considered the option of not selling Lucasfilm, but rather handing it over to someone else to run. However, he was certain that he would not be able to rest as he had during the filming of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. They were filmed by other directors, but Lucas was on the set every day, essentially directing the process.
Lucas had always planned to make three Star Wars trilogies. He even began to prepare for the shooting of the last films, but he put his family and other dreams above all else.
Lucas' Original Plan for the Star Wars Franchise
By that time, Lucas had managed to come up with many storylines of the upcoming sequels and handed over the work to the new owners, hoping that they would use it. However, Disney took a completely different path, and the "sequel trilogy" does not reflect George Lucas' original vision at all.
George planned to make nine movies and each trilogy had its own main theme. The first trilogy (prequels) was supposed to be about the father (Anakin); the second trilogy (classics) – about the son (Luke); the third trilogy (sequels) – about the daughter (Leia) and Anakin's grandchildren. The central topic of the last trilogy should have been life after the war – you won, now what?
Many stormtroopers would continue to fight because they are soldiers and know only war. They could go to a remote part of the galaxy and start their own resistance against the Republic. In parallel, the criminals led by Darth Maul and his apprentice Darth Talon would also seek power.
The events of the seventh episode begin several years after Return of the Jedi. Maul was to become the godfather of the criminal world after the fall of the Empire. Talon was the "new" Vader, and the main action revolved around her, since Maul was already an old man. At the same time, Leia was trying to restore the Republic, and the stormtroopers were creating their own military formations.
Luke rebuilt the Order and searched for the remaining Jedi – there were no more than a hundred of them. So he had to start from scratch – by training children. It would be 20 years before the new generation appeared.
Luke would have restored the Jedi Order and the New Republic would have finally formed under Supreme Chancellor Leia by the end of the trilogy.