It’s really more of a rumor at this point, but George Lucas could be coming back to the galaxy far, far away that he created so long, long ago. It would be a bold move by Disney but also one that feels as though it could be a bit of insurance as well just in case people didn’t like what came next. This way Disney would have a little more deniability when it came to who had to own up to the missteps and who could be put on the chopping block if things went wrong. That sounds very cynical I agree, but it also sounds like something that could possibly be in the cards. That would be pretty underhanded of Disney to do something like that, and one could only hope that it wouldn’t come to such a thing, but at the same time it does sound as though Disney wants to bring Lucas back to get things on track. This could be good or bad for those that want to see more of the EU adopted into the current canon since if anyone says that none of it has then they’re deluding themselves. As Dylan Chaundy of We Got This Covered points out this won’t give Lucas any final say to direct or anything, but it will put him a position to have more influence on the movies and possibly steer things in the right direction.
Of course what many of us feel is the ‘right’ direction could be something entirely different than Lucas or Disney have in mind. Do recall that Lucas didn’t consider the EU canon either, as he was heard to say that the movies were where his world was, and he never read the novels or comic books that came after. There were many things done that had never been considered by Lucas, but still became the parallel universe as he considered it. In other words if Lucas is coming back don’t expect the EU to pop up much unless Disney and Lucas both agree that it could possibly benefit the story. It’s also true that Lucas used a bit of the EU to form the prequels so obviously he found some use for it. When there’s a good enough idea that can be used to push what’s already there and enhance it in some way it’s kind of foolish to say no without a good reason. In this vein Lucas might actually decide to say that there are some good points to the EU that could be used instead of sticking to the dogmatic approach that some people might like to see.
Right now there are only a few bright pockets in the Star Wars franchise where people can agree that what needs to happen IS happening. The Mandalorian is one of those bright spots, and at this point the Rise of Skywalker is struggling to be another bright point. The original trilogy is another bright point that, without being altered or remastered, is something that many people tend to agree is still great. Of course some of it needed to be redone largely because explaining something like how Jabba the Hutt went from being a fat guy draped in furs to a giant slug in Return of the Jedi was kind of difficult. That’s the point though, so much of this story has been handled by so many different hands and even when it was Lucas at the helm things tended to get just as messed up as they possibly could as he tried to take on too much. Now that Disney has realized just what a daunting task this was it seems as though they’ve entertained bringing him back to see if Lucas can bring the story back in line and make something magical happen as he did with the original trilogy. Erik Hayden of The Hollywood Reporter has more to add to this matter. While some people won’t ever agree on whether the prequels were great or not, it does go to show that a project like Star Wars is too much for any one person or even a group of them since ideas are always going to differ, continuity is going to suffer, and fans are going to form their own ideas of what should happen and why what did happen is not the way that things should have gone. Sigh, it’s a mess, and it’s been there for decades now so trying to sort it all out in order to make everyone happy is like trying to untangle Christmas lights with Clark Griswold, it’s possible but it’s not bound to be a fun or stimulating challenge given that it’s going be overdone the moment it happens.
Maybe Lucas can bring things back to an even keel and create an acceptable path for Star Wars, or maybe Disney waited a little too long for such a thing. In any case if he does come back things are bound to change again.
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