Darth Vader is dead. The evil Emperor
exploded after being thrown down a shaft. And Luke Skywalker and his
allies destroyed both Death Stars, restoring balance to the Force. For
The Walt Disney Co., the prospective new owner of the "Star Wars"
franchise, what's left to tell?
A lot, apparently.
There are more than 110 novels and 80-plus
comic books set after the events of "Return of the Jedi," the sixth
episode in the film series and the third to be made. All of these
additions to the so-called "expanded universe" were sanctioned by
Lucasfilm Ltd., founded by series creator George Lucas.
That has left a lot of room for speculation
ever since Disney announced last month that it would buy Lucasfilm for
$4.05 billion and resume making "Star Wars" movies, starting with
Episode 7 in 2015.
For fans, some big questions remain.
Will Luke take on a Jedi apprentice? Will Han
Solo and Princess Leia have kids? And who will be the movies' villain?
(A) A revived Emperor; (B) the hard-to-kill bounty hunter Boba Fett; (C)
some new corrupt leader of the remnants of the Empire, or (D), all of
the above?
Each of these scenarios have been explored in
some fashion away from the big screen. Whether they will be
incorporated into the next trilogy of films is anyone's guess.
"Right now, everyone is literally just
reading tea leaves," said Bryan Young, a "Star Wars" watcher and editor
of the blog, Big Shiny Robot.
The facts so far about the announced Episodes
7, 8 and 9 are scant: Lucas will be a creative consultant but won't
direct the films. Kathleen Kennedy will produce them as president of
Lucasfilm. And Oscar-winning writer Michael Arndt, who wrote "Little
Miss Sunshine" and "Toy Story 3," will pen the screenplay for Episode 7.
One of the most telling clues as to the next
trilogy's direction, according to Young, is the fact that Lucas invited
Luke actor Mark Hamill and Princess Leia actress Carrie Fisher to lunch
some time ago to tell them that the sequels were going to be made, a
reversal of his denials over the years.
Hamill talked about the lunch with
Entertainment Weekly, saying he also spoke with Lucas about three weeks
before the Disney announcement and just missed a call from him the day
the deal was made public Oct. 30.
That suggests that Luke and on-screen sister
Leia, will be involved in some way in the sequel. After all, their
characters are the last members of the Skywalker family, and the most
potent wielders of the Force that appear to be left in the galaxy. "I
think that's the best clue we have," Young said.
Responding to a query from The Associated
Press, Hamill said he couldn't comment further, but noted in an email,
"I should have all the information I need very soon."
Fisher, Lucasfilm and several people who work for the company declined comment.
The notion that Luke will make a comeback
doesn't veer far from what's known about the movies themselves or from
what has been said over the years.
In 2004, Hamill told Movieblog.com that
Lucas' ideas for the sequels go as far back as 1976 during the shooting
of the original "Star Wars," when the director said an older Hamill
would have roles in them.
There is further backing for the idea that
Luke will reappear from the films that have already been released,
including "Return of the Jedi."
And others around Lucas have spoken publicly
about the idea that the family drama that began with Anakin Skywalker
and continued with his son Luke would carry on for at least the next
three films.
"It's really nine parts of one film," said
Rick McCallum, producer of the prequel Episodes 1, 2 and 3, in 1999,
according to "The Secret History of Star Wars" by author Michael
Kaminski.
The cohesion that McCallum suggested belies
the haphazard nature with which the movies have been put together. At
different points in time, Lucas has said there was just one, three, six,
nine or even 12 films envisioned in all.
Kaminski's book recounts multiple script
revisions to most of the films, including some discrepancies that were
later papered over. For instance, at one point, Anakin Skywalker and
Darth Vader were separate characters, not the one person we know through
the movies to have turned evil.
Given the proliferation of storylines and
characters in the "expanded universe," Kaminski said there's a good
chance that some of those storylines will be cast aside, altered, or
even contradicted outright.
"It will affect the 'expanded universe' one
way or another," Kaminski said. "It's going to be hard to reconcile
those different things."
The idea that the new films will diverge from
what's out there is supported by Kennedy, who spoke in a video released
by Lucasfilm shortly after the Disney deal was announced.
"This is not like a series of books like
'Harry Potter' where you've already got a template of what the stories
might be," she said. "These are original stories and original ideas that
come from out of a world that essentially is in George's head."
Beyond some broad strokes that the movies
hint at - such as Luke's passing on the Jedi ways - it seems doubtful
that such a creative mind as Lucas would surrender the movies' outcome
to tales that have already been written.
That means that fans of the books, comics and
video games in the "Star Wars" universe could be either disappointed or
delighted by the result.
But if there were no surprises, the adventure just wouldn't be the same.
"Almost anything is possible," said Jay
Shepard, a content editor at fan site TheForce.net. "But I don't believe
it will be any type of plotline we've already seen."
