It’s no surprise that some people did not like Disney’s take on the Star Wars saga. Since the relaunch under the Disney brand with 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the new films have been met with harsh criticism from many fans of George Lucas’ space opera.
The debate about the new films, initially crafted by Kathleen Kennedy and J.J. Abrams, took an even uglier turn in 2017 with Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi leaving the fanbase divided, and now Marcia Lucas, ex-wife of George Lucas and editor of A New Hope, has firmly planted her flag.
In J.W. Rinzler’s book Howard Kazanjian: A Producer’s Life, Lucas was asked about the current state of Star Wars, and she held nothing back, unleashing on the films, saying “storylines are terrible” and that Abrams and Kennedy don’t “have a clue about Star Wars”.
“I like Kathleen. I always liked her. She was full of beans. She was really smart and really bright—really wonderful woman. And I liked her husband, Frank. I liked them a lot. Now that she’s running Lucasfilm and making movies, it seems to me that Kathy Kennedy and J.J. Abrams don’t have a clue about Star Wars. They don’t get it,” says Lucas.
“And J.J. Abrams is writing these stories — when I saw that movie where they kill Han Solo, I was furious,” she continued. “I was furious when they killed Han Solo. Absolutely, positively there was no rhyme or reason to it. I thought, ‘You don’t get the Jedi story. You don’t get the magic of Star Wars. You’re getting rid of Han Solo?’
“They have Luke disintegrate. They killed Han Solo. They killed Luke Skywalker. And they don’t have Princess Leia anymore. And they’re spitting out movies every year. And they think it’s important to appeal to a woman’s audience, so now their main character is this female, who’s supposed to have Jedi powers, but we don’t know how she got Jedi powers or who she is. It sucks. The storylines are terrible. Just terrible. Awful. You can quote me — ‘J.J. Abrams, Kathy Kennedy — talk to me.'”
Lucas’ comments certainly echo the feelings of many Star Wars fans, although Disney does appear to have taken note of some of the discontent. The studio has scrapped its plans for annual Star Wars movie releases and is now looking towards television, with Lucasfilm’s first live-action Disney+ series The Mandalorian earning many plaudits.
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