George Lucas feels disappointed and betrayed that his script wasn't used in the new Star Wars trilogy

In the recently released memoir "The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of Walt Disney Studios" by former Disney CEO Robert Iger, Iger recalled that George Lucas, the father of "Star Wars", felt "disappointed", "frustrated" and "betrayed" when he learned that Disney intended to take the "Star Wars" series "in another direction" and did not use the plot setting he created to shoot a new trilogy after acquiring Lucasfilm in 2012.

Former Disney CEO Robert Iger

Robert Iger wrote in his memoirs: "During the filming process, George told me that he had completed the outline of the new trilogy. He agreed to send us three copies of the outline: one for me, one for Alan Braverman (Disney's senior executive vice president, general counsel and secretary), and one for Alan Horn (Disney Studios co-chairman and chief creative officer), who was the new studio head. Alan Horn and I read George's new "Star Wars" outline, and we decided to buy it, and we had made it clear in the purchase agreement that, according to the contract, we were not obliged to shoot the movie according to the plot provided by George. "

Iger added in his memoir: "He (George Lucas) knew that I would stand firm on the issue of creative control, but it was not easy for him to accept this fact. So he reluctantly agreed to our request. I promised that we would be open to his script ideas (this was not a difficult promise to make, obviously we would be open to George Lucas' ideas), but just like the outline, we were not obliged to follow the plot provided by George to shoot the movie."

George Lucas

Iger then went on to describe in detail a meeting with George Lucas, screenwriter Michael Arndt, and Lucasfilm chairman Kathleen Kennedy at Skywalker Ranch, a Lucasfilm estate, to discuss their ideas for the new trilogy of films.

Iger recalled: " When everyone started to present their ideas for the new trilogy, George immediately felt uneasy. It gradually became clear to him that we were not using the script outline he had given us during the negotiations. "

“ In fact, Casey (screenwriter of Star Wars 7), J.J. Abrams, Alan (co-chairman and chief creative officer of Disney Studios) and I discussed the direction of the new Star Wars, and we all felt that this was not the plot George had described. George knew that there was no clause in the contract to constrain our behavior, but he believed that our purchase of his script outline was a tacit consent to use his story, and George was disappointed that his script was abandoned.

"George felt betrayed during the first meeting to discuss the future of Star Wars, and while the whole process was not easy for him, our relationship started to become rocky afterwards."

Star Wars 9 Rey's new look

Disney's new Star Wars trilogy eventually merged similar ideas to those of George Lucas: Lucas had once thought that the protagonist was a Jedi apprentice named "Kira" (Rey in the new trilogy), plus an aging, exiled Luke Skywalker. In Rian Johnson's "Star Wars 8: The Last Jedi", the story between Rey in training and her reluctant mentor Luke was partly inspired by George Lucas' original concept, and George Lucas's previous "Jedi killer" character was adapted into the villain of the new Star Wars trilogy, Kylo Ren.

"Star Wars 9: The Rise of Skywalker" will be released in North America on December 20, 2019.