George Lucas Helped Craft Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

George Lucas, in the spring of 1977, gave movie goers their first epic space-opera film, Star Wars Episode IV. If you explain to a non-fan that Episode IV is the first movie, then there were Episodes V and VI but it wasn’t until 22 years later that we got Episodes I, II and III and another 16 years until we got Episode VII and VIII…well there is a good chance that Star Wars is not for them!  However, the point is that the Star Wars timeline is confusing. The Skywalker Saga spans 42 years. There’s no question that it’s complicated. I’m a fan and I get confused sometimes.

Having J.J. Abrams back at the helm is reassuring,. It is even more reassuring given what Abrams just revealed during an interview with IGN at Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019. He stated that he had help in crafting the The Rise of Skywalker from the Star Wars creator himself, George Lucas.

“This movie had a very, very specific challenge, which was to take eight films and give an ending to three trilogies, and so we had to look at ‘What is the bigger story?’ We had conversations amongst ourselves, we met with George Lucas before writing the script.”

-JJ Abrams, IGN Interview at Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019

Is George Lucas why Emperor Palpatine is back?

Hopefully by now you’ve seen the new Star Wars trailer…like 500 times!  If you haven’t, well we just can’t be friends.  But if you have, than you know that the laugh at the end of the trailer is certainly Emperor Palpatine. At Star Wars Celebration 2019 Ian McDiarmid, the actor who portrayed Palpatine, also made an appearance.  His appearance, along with the laugh, should dispel any doubt of his return to Star Wars.

We will hopefully learn how his character will return to the Star Wars galaxy and how much of an influence George Lucas was on that decision, in time.  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hit theaters on December 20, 2019.