What will we see in future 'Star Wars' movies?

Posted Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 12:51 PM Central

by John Couture

After Tuesday's game-changing news about the sale of LucasFilm to Disney and the imminent development of Star Wars: Episode VII, Episode VIII and Episode IX, the question remains as to what exactly will we get in 2015?

Will we get films that mirror the prequel trilogy, or will we finally get the type of sophisticated family entertainment that made the original trilogy the classic set of films that they are? Will the trilogy be based on an original idea or will they simply be big screen adaptations of the Timothy Zahn Thrawn trilogy?

Until we get word from our Bothan spies, all we have is wonderful speculation. No matter what route they plan to take, we will know sooner rather than later now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag. Remember, 2015 is practically tomorrow when it comes to developing, shooting and releasing a film properly, especially one so large in scope as Star Wars: Episode VII.

Furthermore, thanks to the prequels, Disney doesn't have the luxury of messing up Episode VII. If they want to turn this franchise into a well-oiled lucrative money machine at the box office, they have to hit a grand slam with Episode VII. Anything less and you will seriously jeopardize the potential for the film franchise and the brand itself will take yet another hit.

That's why we speculated that Disney had to have a story and director in place (or at least a good idea of both) before they completed the sale and made the announcement of Star Wars: Episode VII. Sure, the double tap to the head that was the announcement of the sale and more Star Wars movies was effective, but even just the news of the sale would have been enough (and less risky) to generate a ton of buzz.

It has been reported that in the sale, George Lucas turned over everything, including "a pretty extensive treatment of the next three movies." The question then is whether Disney is going to follow that treatment and, if so, how closely will they follow it?

Han, Luke & Leia

The biggest question about the next trilogy is whether we will see any familiar faces from the original trilogy. Naturally, it all depends on the timing of the next trilogy, but unless they decide to make a huge jump into the future I'm pretty sure that you'll see a couple familiar faces.

The prequel trilogy took place about 20 years before the events of the original trilogy. The events of the original trilogy took place over the course of four years. So, the question remains as to when we can expect the events of the next trilogy will occur.

As an aside, I highly recommend this thorough Wookieepedia Timeline that tries to lay out the entire expanded Star Wars universe along a timeline. Nothing is perfect, but this serves as a pretty good guide. While we are at it, I also recommend you read this piece on the number of trilogies from the official site StarWars.com.

Given all of that, I think it's safe to say that Star Wars: Episode VII will most likely take place 20 to 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi. This timing makes a nice parallel to the original trilogy and allows the original actors (Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford) to reprise their roles and stay age appropriate.

I know that there's plenty of buzz and desire among the fan boys to simply adapt the Thrawn trilogy, but that story is only set five years after Jedi and Luke, Leia and Han Solo feature prominently in those stories. Even with the best CG that money can buy, I just have a hard time believing that they could take 30 years off the actors.

Otherwise, do you really want to recast these beloved characters? Doing that would make the Jar Jar Binks fiasco look miniscule in comparison.

No, it just makes more sense to push the events of VII, VIII and IX out to 25 years or so. This would fall in between the periods known as "The New Jedi Order Era" and "The Legacy Era."

Again, these eras are questionable at best in terms of being within Lucas' "canon," but I think it's safe to assume that we will be dealing with Han and Leia's children and perhaps even Luke's kids in the new trilogy.

This would allow enough time to pass in the building of the New Republic and the events from the Thrawn trilogy to have plenty of fertile ground to play in. It would also allow Hamill, Fisher and Ford to simply make cameos and not have to drive the action of the films.

I think Hamill will definitely have to reprise Luke Skywalker, but this time he's playing the Obi Wan role to a new apprentice. Maybe that apprentice is his own son or daughter (or nephew or niece), maybe not.

I think that Han Solo is going to appear and die a valiant death. It's no secret that Harrison Ford isn't keen to play Han Solo again, but I think a small role that would do the character justice and allow him to kill off the character with dignity would, in and of itself, propel the new trilogy over the original trilogy.

Of course, EW got an exclusive interview with Mark Hamill in which he revealed that Lucas told himself and Carrie Fisher last August about the upcoming trilogy, so one might speculate that this could mean that Luke and Leia might feature prominently in the new trilogy.

Or it could just mean that Harrison Ford wasn't available for lunch that day. What it does mean is that the films have been in some form of development for at least a year. That is a bit reassuring.

It's entirely possible that the new trilogy won't have even a cameo from the original cast, but I think that's a mistake. You certainly don't want to have them be the focus of the new trilogy, but you can't ignore them completely. You have to have that baton-passing moment if you want to have any chance of success.

Finally, I leave you with this video from George Lucas himself as he talks about the sale and next trilogy. What do you think? Where do you want to see Star Wars go to next?