Star Wars: J.J. Abrams Responds to George Lucas Being Disappointed by Sequel Trilogy

George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney back in 2012, with Disney CEO Bob Iger confirming earlier this year in his memoir that the Star Wars creator was disappointed by the direction the sequel trilogy took, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams revealing how "complicated" it must have been for Lucas to sell his creation and see it through another lens. While Abrams noted that he wished Lucas had loved the direction he took the saga, he confirmed that the filmmaker has been generous throughout the whole creative process, as Abrams aimed to honor the important aspects of the saga with the sequel trilogy.

"I've only had gratitude for George. It's probably a complicated thing for him," Abrams revealed to Rolling Stone. "To decide you're going to sell this thing that you created, that was your baby, to anyone — that must be more complicated than signing a check and smiling about it. But he's been incredibly gracious. He's been super-generous."

Over the course of his years in filmmaking, Lucas teased at various points in time that he had plans for as many as nine chapters in the saga, though it became clear after the prequel trilogy that he lost interest in personally developing episodes seven through nine. This isn't to say he didn't have ideas about where he saw the Skywalker Saga going, though Disney and Lucasfilm decided to deviate from those plans. Iger noted in his memoir, "George immediately got upset as they began to describe the plot and it dawned on him that we weren't using one of the stories he submitted during the negotiations."

Lucas wasn't completely absent from the development process, with Abrams noting that the filmmaker served somewhat as a consultant on the franchise's future.

"He came over, we had a meeting when we first started working on this [new movie], talked through a ton of different ideas and stories, and heard from him what was important," Abrams confessed. "And we've done nothing but try and adhere to some fundamental aspects of the story. It wasn't a difficult thing to try and do. And again, he was really gracious. So I'm only grateful. Do I wish that [Force Awakens] had been his favorite movie of all time? Yes, I only wanted to do well by him. I would just say that I have nothing but profound respect for the guy and am still truly, even more so now, working on these movies in awe of what he created."

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker lands in theaters on December 20th.

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