If the shock of Lucasfilm selling to Disney was a lot for us to take, imagine how it must have felt for those involved in the STAR WARS franchise in some capacity. Speaking for the first time since the official announcement of Episodes VII, VIII, and IX, Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, has expressed his shock at the deal, but admits he had spoken to Lucas and Carrie Fisher about another trilogy of films.Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Hamill said:
Oh my gosh, what a shock that was! I had no idea that George was going to sell to Disney until I read it online like everybody else… I missed his call yesterday, but I spoke to him maybe three weeks ago. But until we know more, it’s hard to make any comment other than congratulations to George.
He went on to talk about a very secret meeting between himself, George Lucas, and Carrie Fisher:
He did tell us last summer about wanting to go on and do [Episodes] VII, VIII, and IX, and that Kathleen Kennedy would be doing them…Yeah, last August, he asked Carrie and I to have lunch with him and we did. I thought he was going to talk about either his retirement or the STAR WARS TV series that I’ve heard about—which I don’t think we were going to be involved in anyway, because that takes place between the prequels and the ones we were in and, if Luke were in them, he’d be anywhere from a toddler to a teenager so they’d get an age-appropriate actor—or the 3-D releases.
So when he said, “We decided we’re going to do Episodes VII, VIII, and IX,” I was just gobsmacked. “What? Are you nuts?!” [laughs] I can see both sides of it. Because in a way, there was a beginning, a middle, and an end and we all lived happily ever after and that’s the way it should be—and it’s great that people have fond memories, if they do have fond memories. But on the other hand, there’s this ravenous desire on the part of the true believers to have more and more and more material. It’s one of those things: people either just don’t care for it or are passionate about it. I guess that defines what cult movies are all about. We’ll see. I’m anxious to know what’s going on, but the main story was the sale to Disney. I have mixed feelings about that, but they haven’t done badly by Marvel and the Muppets and Pixar. It’s one of those big decisions that at first seems unusual but then the more you look at it, the more it makes sense.
Unfortunately Hamill has no idea on the plot at this stage, or how large his part would be in any future sequels:
Well, no, he was just talking about writers and the fact that he wouldn’t be directing. I guess he wanted us to know before everybody else knew. He said, “Now you can’t tell anybody!” [laughs] Even now I’m nervous about saying anything. I just don’t know!
This is, without a doubt, some of the most exciting cinematic news to ever hit. Mostly because it was kept so tightly under wraps. No doubt we’ll be hearing from many cast members from the original trilogy as the days, weeks, and months pass by.
STAR WARS EPISODE VII is scheduled for a 2015 release date.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
