With less than a month to go before Disney relaunches the Star Wars franchise with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, CBS News has been chatting with the saga’s creator George Lucas, who spoke about Disney and director J.J. Abrams’ decision to stray from his original vision for the Sequel Trilogy.
“The issue was ultimately, they looked at the stories [by Michael Arndt] and they said, ‘We want to make something for the fans.’ I said, ‘All I wanted to do was tell a story of what happened–it started here and it went there. It’s all about generations and the issues of fathers and sons and grandfathers.'”
“It’s a family soap opera,” he continues. “People don’t realize it’s actually a soap opera and it’s all about family problems–it’s not about spaceships. So they decided they didn’t want to use those stories; they decided they were going to do their own thing so I decided, ‘Fine.'”
SEE ALSO: Mark Hamill keeping a big Star Wars: The Force Awakens secret
“But basically, they weren’t that keen to have me involved anyway,” he said. “But at the same time, I said, ‘If I get in there I’m just going to cause trouble, because they’re not going to do what I wanted them to do.’ And I don’t have the control to do that anymore and all I would do is muck everything up. So I said, ‘OK, I will go my way and I let them go their way.'”
SEE ALSO: Follow all of our Star Wars coverage here
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set for release on December 17th in the UK and December 18th in the States and sees J.J. Abrams directing returning stars Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and Tim Rose (Admiral Ackbar), in addition to Adam Driver (Girls), Oscar Isaac (A Most Violent Year), Andy Serkis (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina), John Boyega (Attack the Block), Daisy Ridley (Silent Witness), Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave), Ken Leung (Lost), Miltos Yerolemou (Game of Thrones), Max von Sydow (The Exorcist), Jessica Henwick (Spirit Warriors), Christina Chong (24: Live Another Day), Simon Pegg (Star Trek) and newcomers Crystal Clarke and Pip Andersen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=ROisAvdW5SY
Originally published November 20, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
