Unless you have been living with your aunt and uncle on a moisture farm on Tatooine, you probably know that Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens has been out for some time. You also probably know that it’s been critically acclaimed, with the general consensus that JJ Abrams has done an excellent job at rebooting the franchise. The figures, which have today revealed The Force Awakens to be the UK’s highest grossing film ever, speak for themselves in terms of audience satisfaction.
What you probably don’t know, is that some Star Wars fans, disgruntled with the ‘reboot’ of their beloved series have started a petition to get George Lucas reinstated as a director in Disney’s new trilogy. Perhaps in an attempt to become one of the most disliked things to do with Star Wars – second only to Jar-Jar “Meesa Youssa” Binks – Brazilian fan, Yuri Luiz has started a petition on Change.org to reinstate Lucas as the director of the final film in the new trilogy, the as-yet-unnamed Episode IX – even though the 2019 release already has a director in Colin Trevorrow. Luiz explains in his petition that he has “no problem with Colin Trevorrow” before going on to say that he isn’t the “right guy” for the job. In his view, “George Lucas as director of Episode IX would be the perfect way to end this new trilogy and make an epic farewell between the father of Star Wars and the whole universe of the galaxy far, far away … ”
This petition has arrived despite the fact, Lucas has already “stated his lack of interest in working on any further titles in the space opera series” several times. And again, this is hardly surprising. The general consensus among fans is that the Original Trilogy (Episodes 4, 5 and 6) are vastly superior to The Prequel Trilogy (Episodes 1, 2 and 3). On this evidence, it would be fair to suggest that Lucas’ ability to direct a good film is declining and some of the writing and plot elements of the prequel trilogy, such as the failure to use Darth Maul and Count Dooku to their full potential, whilst including racist and stereotypical “comic relief” characters does support this.
I’m not saying I don’t respect Lucas for what he did- without him, we would have no Star Wars. And from his franchise, we have witnessed some truly memorable heroes and villains that will truly go down in the history books as a part of his legacy. Indeed, when you think Star Wars, you will think of George Lucas quite quickly. As you perhaps should. But part of the reason Disney bought Star Wars was to move away from the George Lucas era; to create new stories and new characters and so far, they have done a good job. George Lucas’ relationship to Disney is already strained after his “white slaver” comments recently and it seems impossible that a good working relationship could be developed between the two of them. I also think Lucas doesn’t need to go back to Star Wars, save the threat of further ruining his reputation. Star Wars, now owned by Disney, is a corporate cash cow the size of the Death Star and it does not need Lucas any more than Lucas needs it.
Fortunately, at the time of writing, only 7,601 people have signed the petition, so it does seem even the possibility of Lucas’ return is something far, far away… but even still, it doesn’t need to happen!
P.S. Han still shot first.
