The only thing that everyone seems to agree about when it comes to Disney’s Star Wars sequel trilogy is that they’re a divisive series of films. The new era got off to a strong start as Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a monster blockbuster hit and a big success with critics, while also pleasing fans. Star Wars: The Last Jedi is where the trouble began, as critics liked it, but many longtime fans hated it and still complain about it today. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker tried too hard to course correct and ended up upsetting pretty much everyone, making for a trilogy that never truly felt cohesive. Star Wars fans have suggested that George Lucas, the franchise’s creator, should’ve been behind the sequels instead of Disney and they started to champion the prequel trilogy that Lucas put out. However, George Lucas might not have actually been the best choice.
All someone has to do is look at the last time George Lucas was involved with a major franchise. He had a notable disagreement with both Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which showcases why he likely wouldn’t have been the ideal choice for the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
The excitement surrounding the 2008 release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was palpable. Unfortunately, the film was almost immediately divisive (at best) or heavily panned (at worst). There were several aspects that missed the mark, but one of the most famous is the movie’s inclusion of aliens in its storyline. Aliens and Indiana Jones don’t exactly go together, which is a big part of why the reception wasn’t great. It turns out (shocker!) that the aliens were George Lucas’ idea.
While covering the release of Spielberg’s latest film, Disclosure Day, Vulture spoke with several notable people, including George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy. She explained that both Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg struggled with the idea of aliens being involved with Indiana Jones 4, and Lucas confirmed that he came up with the idea. He wanted to do a War of the Worlds-style story, but Ford didn’t want to do another sci-fi film and Spielberg said the same thing, though both eventually went back into the sci-fi genre, ironically enough.
Lucas believed that the 1950s and the hysteria surrounding UFOs fit the film. He revealed that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull went through around five scripts due to these constant disagreements until they compromised and decided the aliens would be from another dimension. Ford and Spielberg remained unsure, but it happened and the end result wasn’t good. The film is considered a huge step down from the original trilogy, a reputation it shares with the Star Wars sequels. The main reason behind it all is George Lucas, which doesn’t bode well for the discussion that he should’ve been behind those sequels.
One of the most notable things about the divisive nature of the Star Wars sequel trilogy is the rosy retrospection of the prequel films. Many longtime fans of the franchise fight hard online to defend George Lucas’ prequels and rank them way above the Disney projects, which feels a lot different from the initial feelings about those movies. In fact, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones both received lackluster reviews and were conisdered somewhat dull. Many complained they were bogged down by politics and a lack of action.
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith was the exception, which was appreciated by fans and critics from the start. Still, the overall prequels were divisive because of Lucas’ ideas. Fans didn’t like how the chosen one prophecy made the universe feel smaller, the concept of midi-chlorians to explain the Force, and poorly done CGI all throughout the films. There’s also the disdain for new characters like Jar Jar Binks, stiff and weakly written dialogue, and uneven shifts in tone. That made the good elements, like the lightsaber duels and some of the performances, get overlooked.
Even though there’s a bit of revisionist history with the prequels, a closer look shows how they were divisive at best. Since that’s so similar to the sequels, it stands to reason that having George Lucas handle them wouldn’t have changed much in terms of fan reaction. You can even look at the many changes Lucas made to newer releases of his own original trilogy to see how much his decisions and ideas can split fans. Having one vision across three movies would’ve made the sequels more cohesive, yet George Lucas still likely would’ve upset many fans with his.
You can stream Star Wars movies on Disney+.
