Sequel trilogy

The concept of a sequel trilogy for Star Wars was already being considered as early as 1976, during the production of the original film. Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the 1977 movie, recalled that George Lucas inquired about his interest in appearing in Episode IX "around 2011," at a time when Lucas anticipated the film's potential creation. According to Hamill, his character's role would have been "like Obi-Wan Kenobi handing the lightsaber down to the next generation." Following the success of A New Hope, Lucas stated in Time magazine in 1978 that he planned to produce a sequel to A New Hope and then ten more films, creating a total of four Star Wars trilogies. Throughout the early 1980s, both Hamill and Lucas consistently informed the media that the sequels were planned for the 2000s. Initially, Lucas considered making 12 films, including "a couple of odd movies" focused on subjects like droids and Wookiees. However, he eventually abandoned these ideas, choosing to concentrate solely on the nine-part saga. Around the time of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back's release, Lucas verified his intention to create seven more Star Wars films. He mentioned having detailed outlines and titles for these films, and that the sequel trilogy would "deals with the character that survives Star Wars III and his adventures." Bantha Tracks estimated that, if the production pace of the nine-part Star Wars epic remained consistent, the ninth Star Wars film could be anticipated by the spring of 2001. A Kenner advertisement from 1979 claimed that there were plans for "twelve more block-busting chapters to the Star Wars story."

According to Gary Kurtz, the producer of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas's original concepts for the sequel trilogy, which he described as "very vague" aside from Luke's journey to becoming a highly respected Jedi Knight like Obi-Wan Kenobi and his eventual showdown with the Emperor, were eventually consolidated into Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. As Lucas told Starlog in 1981, "...what seems like a great idea when it's described in three sentences doesn't hold together when you try to make five or six scenes out of it. So plots change a lot when they start getting into script form." The initial plan involved Han Solo's death and Luke confronting Vader before continuing his life alone. The sequels would have depicted Luke becoming a fully realized Jedi, Leia becoming Queen of the remaining population of Alderaan, and Luke discovering his long-lost sister on the other side of the galaxy. Luke would have trained his sister as a Jedi, and together they would have faced the Emperor on the Imperial Capital Planet of Had Abbadon. Lucas permitted biographer Dale Pollock to review the plot outlines for a 12-film saga, contingent upon signing a confidentiality agreement. Pollock stated that these sequel trilogy drafts would "involve Luke Skywalker in his 30s and 40s," although Lucas reportedly intended to replace Hamill with an older actor due to dissatisfaction with Hamill's performance, and that they would be "The three most exciting stories … They had propulsive action, really interesting new worlds, new characters. I remember thinking, 'I want to see these 3 movies.'" Similarly, author Timothy Zahn received a briefing from Lucas regarding his sequel plans when Bantam Spectra hired him to write the Thrawn Trilogy. Lucas informed him that he wanted each trilogy to focus on a generation of Skywalkers, meaning the sequels would involve Luke's children.

Throughout the 1980s, Lucas shared several ideas he had for the sequels, describing it as "like a saga, the story of a group of people, a family." They were to begin approximately 20 to 40 years after Return of the Jedi, featuring the original cast in their 60s or 70s, and would address the rebuilding of the republic. The central theme would be "the necessity for moral choices and the wisdom needed to distinguish right from wrong." "If the first trilogy is social and political and talks about how society evolves, Star Wars is more about personal growth and self realization, and the third deals with moral and philosophical problems. The sequel is about Jedi Knighthood, justice, confrontation, and passing on what you have learned." Han and Leia would be in a relationship. R2-D2 and C-3PO were expected to be the only characters appearing in all nine films. The story would primarily focus on Luke, portrayed as a sixty-year-old Jedi Knight involved in a romantic relationship. According to Lucas, "what happens to Luke… is much more ethereal. I have a tiny notebook full of notes on that. If I'm really ambitious, I could proceed to figure out what would have happened to Luke." (Hamill also mentioned in 1983 that if his character were to return, it would be "on another plane of existence, or not the same character.") Return of the Jedi director Richard Marquand reportedly met with Lucas to outline the framework for the third trilogy, which included a character described by Marquand as a 'supreme intellect' capable of controlling Darth Vader's actions, Luke Skywalker's fate, and the destiny of the entire galaxy through profound cunning.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, new stories began to emerge, set within the sequel era, presenting their own original narratives. The initial attempt to fill this gap was the unsuccessful 1986 toy line, The Epic Continues, by Kenner, which featured the rise of the genetics master Atha Prime and the survival of Grand Moff Tarkin. More significantly, Timothy Zahn's 1991 novel Heir to the Empire marked the start of the thriving Expanded Universe of stories that took place after Return of the Jedi. Luke established his own Jedi Academy and encountered and married a woman named Mara Jade, who had been one of the Emperor's assistants. Together, they had a son named Ben Skywalker. Han and Leia were married and had three children: the twins Jacen and Jaina, and their younger brother Anakin. Amidst their efforts to rebuild the Republic, they faced adversaries such as Grand Admiral Thrawn and the extragalactic aliens known as the Yuuzhan Vong.

At the 1987 10th Anniversary convention, Lucas reiterated the possibility of a sequel trilogy, stating that there were "nine [films] floating around there somewhere." In the foreword of the 1996 printing of Splinter of the Mind's Eye, he acknowledged realizing early on that Star Wars was a story "that could take at least nine films to tell—three trilogies." However, throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Lucas consistently stated that he had no plans to create them and would not allow other directors to do so. He cited his advancing age and the absence of a concrete story beyond the general concept of reuniting the original cast, dismissing his supposed interest in a nine-film saga as the media "pouncing" on a casual remark, telling Star Wars Insider in 1995: "I really don't have any other notion than 'Gee, it would be interesting to do Luke Skywalker later on.' It wouldn't be a part of the main story, it would just be a sequel to this thing." When asked about the sequels by Vanity Fair in 1999, Lucas reiterated: "I never had a story for the sequels, for the later ones. And also, I'll be to a point in my age where to do another trilogy would take 10 years." When asked if he would allow other people to make them, he replied "Probably not. It's my thing."; However, that same year, both Steven Spielberg and Rick McCallum assured in that Lucas always intended to make nine Star Wars films because that was part of his original concept, so even if he ever made a sequel trilogy or not, the saga would still feel as a film divided in nine parts and a "one big" saga about a family that lives in a galaxy far, far away. Lucas did allude to a potential Episode VII in a May 2002 interview, and in 2003, Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew mentioned that his contract for Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith included a clause for a sequel trilogy. In 2004, Lucas once again denied the possibility of a sequel trilogy, reaffirming that he always intended the story of Star Wars to consist in three films and he only decided to realize a prequel trilogy to go back and "do the backstory" of the original trilogy, maintaining his belief that Return of the Jedi is the saga's definitive ending. Later that year, LucasArts developers, led by W. Haden Blackman, conceived the idea of continuing the Star Wars saga through a sequel video game titled Star Wars Episode VII: Shadows of the Sith. This game would have starred an adult Ben Skywalker, navigating the balance between the light and dark sides of the Force, and harnessing previously unseen Force powers as he investigated a new threat to the galaxy in the form of a member of the House of Solo, but this concept was not selected for further development.

Around 2005, Lucas simultaneously began developing the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the live-action series Star Wars: Underworld. The mythology of these shows began to focus heavily on the criminal underworld, with multiple arcs of the former involving the return of Darth Maul and delving deeply into esoteric aspects of the Force. Lucas also planned to expand his Lucas Valley property with Grady Ranch, envisioned as "a digital media production facility for movies and television." However, in 2010, Lucas announced that the live-action series was "on hold" due to budgetary concerns, and in early 2012, Marin County rejected Lucas's expansion plans due to concerns over traffic and noise.

In May 2011, while attending the opening of Star Tours: The Adventures Continue at Disney World, Disney CEO Bob Iger inquired with Lucas about his willingness to sell his company. Lucas had been contemplating retirement but was not yet prepared to take that step. In January 2012, Lucas informed The New York Times of his plans to retire. Regarding future Star Wars films, he remarked, "Why would I make any more, when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?" During an appearance that month on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Lucas stated that the aerial combat footage in his 2012 American film Red Tails "is as close as you'll get to Episode VII." He later attributed his retirement and the sale of Lucasfilm to the birth of his daughter, his advanced age (considering the decade he estimated it would take to produce the trilogy), his plans to establish a museum, and his desire for direct control. He explained to author Paul Duncan that even if he hired others to make the films, he knew he would end up micromanaging them, as he had done with The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi; retirement would allow him to "enjoy life for a while."

While in New York for The Daily Show, Lucas invited Kathleen Kennedy to lunch. He asked if she would be a co-chair at Lucasfilm with him, with the intention of transferring leadership entirely to her after about a year. She began working for him on June 1, 2012; Lucas soon proposed that they work together on the sequel trilogy. During this time, Lucasfilm commenced early development on Episodes VII, VIII, and IX, hiring writer Michael Arndt to work on VII, with Lawrence Kasdan as a consultant. After appearing at Celebration VI in late August, Lucas took Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher to lunch and asked if they would be willing to reprise their roles for the new films. According to Hamill, Lucas told them that he wasn't planning to direct them himself. However, Lucas claimed that he considered directing Episode VII for a May 2015 release and then selling his company.

Lucas ultimately contacted Iger in June 2012, initiating five months of acquisition negotiations between the two companies. Lucas worked to ensure that key Lucasfilm personnel would remain to market the new Star Wars films, although Iger emphasized that Disney would have the final say on future movies. Lucas agreed, despite his reservations about losing control, and initially did not share his outlines for the sequel trilogy. He eventually presented the stories after some of his concerns were addressed, and Disney acknowledged the stories' potential. The acquisition was announced on October 30, 2012, with Disney paying Lucas US$4.05 billion. As part of the announcement, Disney revealed its plans to produce the sequel trilogy. The first installment was then scheduled for release in summer 2015.

During the acquisition process, Lucas finalized the outlines for the trilogy and agreed to send them to Iger, CLO Alan Braverman and CCO Alan F. Horn, who assured him that they were not contractually obligated to use them, although they were open to his ideas. At some point, the decision was made to deviate from Lucas's outlines in favor of what Lucas later described as "something for the fans" with a "retro feel." He contrasted The Force Awakens with Episodes I–VI, stating, "I worked very hard to make them completely different, with different planets, with different spaceships… to make it new." Director J.J. Abrams told Vanity Fair that the studio's concerns included Lucas's outlines featuring "very young" characters, reminiscent of The Phantom Menace. According to Iger's 2019 memoir, The Ride of a Lifetime, Lucas felt "betrayed" by The Force Awakens. As Lucas told Stephen Colbert: "The original Saga was about the father, the children, and the grandchildren. That's not a secret to anybody—it's even in the novels and everything. The children were in their 20s and everything, so it wasn't The Phantom Menace again. But they've taken it in a different direction, and I'm excited—they didn't use my story, so I don't know what they're doing." Hamill agreed, later saying they were "vastly different to what they have done," and remarking "When I have George on the phone, we are talking about the 7th and the 8th movie. But I will not betray his trust and I will keep what he tells me confidential." In an October 2020 livestream, Lucas told a group of high-school students, "I kind of lost control of Star Wars, so it's going off in a different path than what I intended. But the first six are very much mine and my philosophy." Kennedy defended these decisions, however, telling Slashfilm that "We changed the order of a few things, let's put it that way. We didn't make some wholesale change." and explaining to Vanity Fair that the development team had "made some departures exactly the way you would in any development process."

Lucas has stated that, while the prequel trilogy focused on the father (Anakin) and the original trilogy centered on the son (Luke), the sequels would have revolved around the daughter (Leia) and the grandchildren (who were in their 20s). Much of the plot drew inspiration from the aftermath of the Iraq War; Leia works to rebuild the Republic from the remnants of the Empire, which have fallen into the hands of the criminal underworld. Darth Maul has united these criminal factions and consolidated power. A number of stormtroopers have also set up control of their own planets and continued to fight even though the Galactic Civil War had ended. Lucas compared them to the formation of ISIS after Saddam Hussein's death following the Iraq War. Luke tries to rebuild the Jedi, seeking out survivors of Order 66 as well as new young recruits, while Maul also trained an apprentice: a Twi'lek named Darth Talon (originally a character from the Dark Horse Comics' Star Wars: Legacy comic book), who seduces Han and Leia's son to the dark side of the Force. Lucas described her as "the new Darth Vader," and said that between Maul and Talon, most of the action involved the latter. (Lucas was also planning to involve Maul and Talon in the canceled video game Battle of the Sith Lords.) At the beginning of the story a 14-year-old Force-sensitive girl (whose possible names were Taryn, Thea, Winkie and later Kira under Abrams) finds her way to Luke, who is living in self-imposed exile in an ancient Jedi temple. At first, Luke is in a dark state of mind, but slowly returns to his old self, and ultimately agrees to train the girl. According to Pablo Hidalgo's Star Wars: Fascinating Facts, Luke would have died in Episode VIII, while Mark Hamill stated that Luke would have survived until Episode IX and trained Leia in the Force. In the midst of this, we would've learned the mythology surrounding the Whills. By the end of the trilogy, Luke Skywalker rebuilds much of the Jedi Order, and Leia becames the Supreme Chancellor of the New Republic, thus, as Lucas said, "she ended to be the Chosen One."

In the latter part of 2012, a brain trust was formed by Lucasfilm, featuring Michael Arndt (the initial scriptwriter), Kiri Hart, Lawrence Kasdan, Pablo Hidalgo, and Simon Kinberg. This group convened sporadically over several months at locations like Big Rock Ranch, Skywalker Ranch, and the Presidio. Kathleen Kennedy occasionally joined, along with various members of the Lucasfilm Story Group. Hart described the process to The Hollywood Reporter as highly collaborative, involving extensive discussions around a large whiteboard where ideas were freely presented and explored. Numerous concepts were considered and ultimately discarded. Although George Lucas was initially slated to provide guidance, he withdrew due to disagreements with the new direction. Nevertheless, his outlines served as a foundation, with certain elements retained as the team developed a broad narrative framework for the trilogy. Arndt's contributions included the idea of Leia being ousted from politics after the revelation of Darth Vader as her father, a plot point later utilized in the 2016 novel Bloodline.

J.J. Abrams joined the team in January 2013, after which meetings shifted to his Bad Robot office and Kennedy's nearby workspace. Subsequently, Abrams was named director, and he and Kasdan assumed significant creative control, leading to substantial revisions of Arndt's original script. Kasdan later shared with The New York Times that the production was nearing its start date with insufficient material. Consequently, he and Abrams were brought in to salvage the project, with Arndt's approval. According to Kasdan, the studio "got rid of everybody" else involved. Kennedy extended an offer for Abrams to direct all three films, but he declined due to feeling overwhelmed. This led to the decision to emulate the production model of the original trilogy, assigning a different director to each film to bring their unique perspective.

Despite establishing the groundwork for the sequel trilogy, Abrams and Kasdan didn't create a definitive blueprint for the subsequent two films. Kasdan explained to zap2it.com that they prioritized creating a satisfying initial installment, leaving the future open-ended. He stated that Episode VIII and IX were suggested but not rigidly defined, leaving that task to others. He echoed these sentiments to Vanity Fair and the Los Angeles Times, emphasizing the director-driven nature of all six preceding films. Abrams added that while they generated numerous ideas for future episodes, they didn't impose them, acknowledging that the next director would have their own vision. In a 2021 interview with collider.com, Abrams expressed regret over this lack of a concrete plan.

In 2014, Rian Johnson was chosen to both write and direct Episode VIII. Johnson crafted the film largely as a response to The Force Awakens, collaborating with the Lucasfilm Story Group, although Abrams offered suggestions regarding the story's direction. Abrams told cinemablend.com that he and Kasdan intentionally set up plot points with the understanding that it was the start of a three-part story. They discussed their ideas with Johnson and producer Ram Bergman early on, while also recognizing Johnson's creative autonomy. Another think tank convened that year, establishing some plot points for Episode IX. Colin Trevorrow was announced as the director of Episode IX in 2015. His script, Duel of the Fates, co-written with Derek Connolly and dated December 2016, was said to give Carrie Fisher's character a prominent role, following the focus on Harrison Ford's and Mark Hamill's characters in the previous films. However, following Fisher's death in December 2016, Kennedy stated that the team essentially "started over." In September 2017, Trevorrow's departure was announced, citing creative differences, and he was replaced by J.J. Abrams, the director and co-writer of The Force Awakens. Abrams' film, The Rise of Skywalker, diverged significantly from Duel of the Fates but did incorporate some of its elements.

The acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney and the subsequent announcement of the sequel trilogy triggered several significant organizational changes. In 2013, production of both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Detours was discontinued. Furthermore, LucasArts was closed down in the same year, leading to the cancellation of its projects, including Star Wars: 1313, Star Wars: First Assault, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed III. An exclusive agreement was also established with Electronic Arts. In 2014, Lucasfilm declared that the sequel trilogy filmmakers would not be bound by the post-Return of the Jedi narrative established in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, a decision intended to foster greater creative flexibility. The Expanded Universe was rebranded as Star Wars Legends and re-released, while a new publishing program was initiated under the guidance of the newly created Lucasfilm Story Group. Certain elements from the Legends stories have been retained and integrated into these new narratives.

A series of "anthology" films were developed alongside the sequel trilogy, with the first two entries (Rogue One and Solo) released in an alternating sequence with the sequel installments. The original strategy involved releasing at least one film annually on an ongoing basis, extending "well beyond" the sequel trilogy. However, in response to Solo's disappointing box-office performance, Bob Iger announced a "slow down" of releases, indicating a period of reflection and recalibration. He assured that future Star Wars movies would be made, but after a break. Numerous film projects have been announced over the years, including a Josh Trank film, a Rian Johnson trilogy, a film series from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, a Kevin Feige film, a Taika Waititi film, and a Patty Jenkins film. However, some of these projects have been abandoned, with both Josh Trank and David Benioff & D.B. Weiss withdrawing from their respective commitments.

Shortly before The Rise of Skywalker was released, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, a Star Wars-themed area heavily influenced by the sequel trilogy, opened at Disney theme parks. Also in that year, The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars series, premiered on Disney+, Disney's new streaming platform. Following its success, several new streaming shows were announced in late 2020.

• Star Wars sequel trilogy on Wikipedia