Star Wars: George Lucas was convinced that this film would kill his saga

© Lucasfilm

For a first attempt, it was a masterstroke. By releasing the first film in the La Star Wars: A New Hope saga in 1977, George Lucas surprised everyone, so much so that the sequel to this franchise was eagerly awaited.

According to revelations published in the magazine Star Wars Insider issue #49 in the early 2000s, the filmmaker feared the worst for this feature film The Empire Strikes Back. Irvin Kershner, who directed this episode, explained:

When I talked to George about it before taking the film, he explained something to me. He said to me: “Listen, the second film in the “Star Wars”trilogy, if it’s not as good or better than 'Star Wars', will not be a series. She will die immediately. It must live up to the original and exceed it, if possible.

He added: “George wanted me to make a better film than “Star Wars”. But of course he did the original groundwork, and what I did was make it as good as possible. All those who imagined a very self-confident George Lucas after this first part will therefore be disappointed.

But just the opposite happened. This film was a huge popular and critical success, so much so that many still cite it to this day as the best Star Wars feature film ever released.

The prediction of George Lucas

Dark and ambitious, this production introduces major characters such as Yoda, Lando Calrissian, Boba Fett, but also Emperor Palpatine who we see appear by hologram. The fight between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, as well as the final reveal, continues to surprise all young people discovering the franchise today.

If George Lucas was somewhat lacking in confidence in this regard, he was on the other hand often distinguished by his fairly clear vision of the future of the franchise. Thus, at the beginning of the 2000s, the filmmaker was in any case convinced, the saga should not have a sequel on the big screen.

He thought on the contrary that it could be wonderfully presented in the form of TV series. It is in this sense that he launched The Clone Wars. If Disney did not listen to it at the beginning by developing its own cinematographic trilogy, the big-eared firm finally validated this vision of a Star Wars widely adapted into television format.

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