When George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to The Walt Disney Company, any hopes of seeing what he’d been working on, on and off, for decades faded into oblivion. For years, we’ve heard a few things here and there about what he may have done, but nothing was concrete.
Back before 2013, Lucas approved many concept art designs for a future sequel trilogy that you can see in The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi book (designed by VFX art director James Clyne). The book revealed art for the first Jedi temple, a much older Luke Skywalker, a young Jedi padawan named Kira, and a design for the first Jedi temple. But that was as far as his involvement went before Disney bought Lucasfilm in a deal worth $4.05 billion.
Today, we still know very little about George’s plans, despite an overabundance of rumors. However, thanks to a skillful writer named Paul Duncan, we can begin to start forming a picture of what might have been.
In a new behind the scenes book, The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005, author Paul Duncan takes a deep dive into the making of the prequel trilogy and Lucas’ creative process. Made with George Lucas and Lucasfilm’s full cooperation, this book covers the prequel films’ making and features exclusive interviews. Here’s the “big reveal” we’ve been waiting for: In a recent Twitter post, Duncan teased that one of the most exciting aspects was that a resurrected Darth Maul, an antagonist of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, would have returned in a new trilogy alongside an apprentice named Darth Talon. For those unfamiliar, Talon was a character last seen in a Star Wars comic book’s pages. Details regarding her backstory begin in the 2006 comic book series Star Wars: Legacy.
The book describes that Darth Talon would have played a similar role to Darth Vader in the sequel trilogy. Fans would have seen the very first female Sith Master in Star Wars canon.
“Darth Maul trained a girl, Darth Talon, who was in the comic books, as his apprentice,” Lucas said. “She was (to be) the new Darth Vader, and most of the action was with her.
Some concept and storyboard art has now been shared by Lucasfilm creative art manager Phil Szostak giving us a look at the designs for Darth Talon.
“If I remember right, it was simply Darth Talon’s look that was admired and therefore considered. Very unlikely that she would have been the same EU character and her place in Ep7’s story was not thought all the way through. She was just one stop of many on the road to Kylo Ren.” Szostak Said.
Talon also made an appearance on the very edge of a piece just titled “Bar” by Christian Alzmann. You can see her on to the left in the photo below:
Also according to the new Star Wars Archive (1995-2005) book, Lucas explained that his new trilogy would have started shortly after the event in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, with Luke Skywalker rebuilding a new Jedi Order and training a future generation of knights. Just like in The Art of Star Wars The Last Jedi book explained, Lucas’ initial plans had Luke training new Jedi.
Finally, the sequel trilogy would’ve concluded with Princess Leia Organa being revealed as the Chosen One. She would go on to playing a key role on rebuilding the Republic.
“The Jedi have to grow again from scratch, so Luke has to find two- and three-year-olds, and train them. It’ll be 20 years before you have a new generation of Jedi,” Lucas explained. “The movies are about how Leia – I mean, who else is going to be the leader? – is trying to rebuild the Republic… Luke is trying to restart the Jedi.”
Unfortunately, audiences most likely will never see any George Lucas’s ideas come to life on screen, but at least Paul Duncan’s new The Star Wars Archives, coupled with the Star Wars: The Art of The Last Jedi books, gives fans some bit of closure on what might have been.
“The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005” will be available on December 13. You can pre-order the book at the Taschen homepage.
So why didn’t any of this happen? Lucas explained that the whole project fell apart due to an ambitious timeframe and Lucas’s desire to spend time elsewhere:
“At that time I was starting the next trilogy; I talked to the actors and I was starting to gear up. I was also about to have a daughter… it takes 10 years to make a trilogy… I’d still be working on Episode 9! … Finally, I’d decided I’d rather raise my daughter and enjoy life for a while.”
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