The newStar Warstrilogy has seen a lot of criticism and one of the biggest points that fans try and argue is that George Lucas would have done a better job or at least that he would have had better ideas. As it turns out, much of the major storylines for Episodes VII and VIII were sculpted by George Lucas. Pablo Hidalgo, an author and member of the Lucasfilm Story Group, took to Twitter recently to set the record straight after the barrage of hate that Rian Johnson’sThe Last Jedihas taken since its release in theaters less than a month ago.
It’s clear thatGeorge Lucashad minimal input on the newStar Warstrilogy, but his original treatments were developed into the main storyline that we first saw in J.J. Abrams’The Force Awakens. One plot point that was always in the mix was Ben Solo and his fall to the Dark Side, as Pablo Hidalgo confirms via Twitter. Though it was already in the plans, it became more a matter of when it would occur as opposed to if. Hidalgo had this to say.
“The sonfalling to the dark sidewas always in the mix. The movies just ended up having it already an established fact.”
In a turn of events that may have made the new sequel closer to the prequels in terms of style was that even though certain storylines forThe Force AwakensandThe Last Jediwerelaid out by George Lucas, he would have had all of the ideas inEpisode VIIas opposed to splitting them up. This would have made for a lot of supposed information being laid out in one movie, similar to the way thatThe Phantom Menaceturned out, which definitely would not have been a good thing. This is all speculation about how it would have turned out, but it’s interesting to see just how much of George Lucas' blueprints that Lucasfilm used. Hidalgo explains.
“In a very general sense, the original idea of 7 started midway through what we now know as 8.”
Some fans started to get into a friendly argument with Pablo Hidalgo on Twitter. The majority of fans claimed that events in theStar WarsLegends novels and comic books more accurately reflected George Lucas' original ideas, which Hidalgo refuted. Hidalgo instead went on to point at the evolution of Finn and Rey from the early days as well as more on Ben Solo and even Snoke. He had this to say.
“Skyler and Kira (and Kira wasn’t the first proposed name either; she had at least two others) became, after a fashion, Finn and Rey. The Jedi Killer morphed from Talon corrupting the son to becoming the son. Uber became Snoke. The starting point shifted. Yadda yada yada.”
The arguments will continue on forever about the newStar Warstrilogy and how it would have been better or worse if George Lucas had more of an influence over the storylines. But it is very interesting to see that Lucasfilm took some of Lucas' ideas to push the story along, serving as tribute as well.The Last Jediconcept art even shows that Lucas planned on having Luke Skywalker in exile, which has been argued about to death by fans, so George Lucas' fingerprints are still all over this new trilogy, whether you like it or not. You can normally read the tweets via Pablo Hidalgo’s Twitter account, but he appears to have deleted nearly all of his tweets. Instead, head over toStarWarsNewsNetto check out what Hidalgo had to say.
