There were going to be 12 Star Wars movies...

Saw this on the OS. It's an interview with GL in an issue of 'Bantha Tracks' around the time ESB came out. Thought you might find it interesting.

SW: At one point there were going to be twelve Star Wars films.

GL: I cut that number down to nine because the other three were tangential to the saga. Star Wars was the fourth story in the saga and was to have been called Star Wars: Episode Four A New Hope. But I decided people wouldn't understand the numbering system so we dropped it. For Empire, though, we're putting back the number and will call it Episode Five: The Empire Strikes Back. After the third film in this trilogy we'll go back and make the first trilogy, which deals with the young Ben Kenobi and the young Darth Vader.

SW: What is the third trilogy about?

GL: It deals with the character that survives Star Wars III and his adventures.

 

Interesting. Never knew about 12 episodes. But I've heard that there were gonna be nine. Most Interesting.

 

SW: What is the third trilogy about?

GL: It deals with the character that survives Star Wars III and his adventures.

What character do you think he was talking about? One introduced in Episode III? or am I not thinking and forgetting one we already know?

 

If this "character that survives ep.3" is a Jedi, he could be reffering 2 either Obi-Wan or Yoda.

 

So this means that there are going to be episodes 7, 8 and 9?

 

No, there will not be a ST(sequel trilogy), because GL changed his mind once again.
I think that he meant ROTJ when he said "Star Wars 3", because back then ANH was known to most people as just "Star Wars".

And it still is, I think!

 

when he say "the character that survives" he is talking about Luke, however he decided he didnt want to spend all the time it required to make 3 star wars movies.

 

The story for 7-9 was condensed into RoTJ. Jedi was orignially limited to the defeat of Vader and the 7-9 movies dealt with Luke growing in power, searching for his sister (not Leia), and confronting and defeating the emperor.

Sorry I can't find the source for that info. It was posted on one of these boards a few months back.

 

I wonder what the Fourth trilogy ( 10,11 and 12 ) would have been about?? Anakin's great grandchildren?

 

Apparently, in Lucas's original plans from the 1970s for the prequel trilogy, one villain character was to have survived, unbeknownst to the characters (but knownst to us...okay, my one Spaceballs reference of the year ), and was to drop out of sight for the "middle" trilogy (Episodes IV, V, and VI), and then reappear in the third trilogy as the main enemy of the Skywalkers, with enhanced powers.

You might also check out the May, 1983 issue of Time Magazine with ROTJ on the cover...in it, Lucas discusses his story plans for the third set of films, and manages to give away secrets that I've seen nowhere else.

 

What i read about the sequel trilogy was that the emporer is still the bad guy, the empire is still around. In return of the jedi, luke was supposed to redeem vader then the sequel trilogy would be about father and son trying to defeat the empire and the emporor.

i have no official citing for this information, but im pretty sure it was in
a issue of the insider back in the day.

 

the hope of a might-have-been

if this had happened, 12 movies would we have a better SW?

 

Letto II, would you please be good enough to explain the substance of that Time article?

 

yes, does anyone have some direct quotes from GL or TIME?

 

Well what i have gathered from it all is the there were originally 9 episodes. now i read there are were 12( i learn something new every day). GL started with 4-5-6 because they had the most action. The he decided he would make 1-2-3 and 7-8-9. then he backed out of 7-8-9 because he knew he wouldn't have time (life-wise). Well i figure that since he has only directed 1-2 and 4 thus far, and a new SW movie comes out every 3 years( not including the 20 yr span between 6 and 1), he could have ample time to make 7-8-9 right after finishing 3 if he wished too. Since SW gets all this publicity he might decide too make 7-8-9 in the future, but his life might also end around this time, therefore letting someone else (perhaps his son) direct 7-8-9 to make the saga complete.


Note: If GL were to make 7-8-9 and direct them himself he could start right after episode 3 that way we only wait 3 years for yet another SW. Since the story for 7-8-9 is already laid out in his head, he might keep it all a secret and wait 20 years to begin a sequel, or hopefully bring it all out in 3 years, which would give him ample amount of time to make all 3.

This is what i have gathered and my own theory, so please any comments on this are greatly appreciated

 

I heard the big GL's son was going to make 7-9...

they also could make the in between stuff, like shadows of the empire.

I mean star wars has like 7 million books and stuff in between.

 

GL started with 4-5-6 because they had the most action. The he decided he would make 1-2-3 and 7-8-9. then he backed out of 7-8-9 because he knew he wouldn't have time (life-wise).

A common misconception. Lucas did not pluck Episode IV from a pre-planned series. He built the series around his first script, which then became the fourth episode. When he first started writing, there was no series planned. He broke his story into three pieces, then created a backstory for his own reference.

 

Just to clear something up...

When it says "GL: It deals with the character that survives Star Wars III and his adventures." it means ROTJ, not Episode III. At the time ROTJ was often called "Star Wars III"

 

So ROTJ should be called "Star Wars VI".

 

Pleeeeeeease get that Time quote up.