The Star Wars fan community was recently abuzz after Adam Driver revealed that he and Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh pitched Lucasfilm on a Kylo Ren movie entitled The Hunt for Ben Solo. The film, which had a completed script and approval from Lucasfilm, was reportedly shut down because Disney CEOs Bob Iger and Alan Bergman didn’t believe Ben Solo could be alive after the events of “The Rise of Skywalker.” The cancellation has led to online fan campaigns to encourage Disney to reconsider the project.
If Star Wars fans are creating campaigns to encourage Disney to follow through with a Ben Solo film, imagine what they would’ve done with knowing that the legendary George Lucas was writing an entirely different Episode VII.
We’ve heard rumors and speculation over the years about George Lucas writing a treatment for Star Wars Episode VII with ideas about microscopic aliens, often referred to as the “Whills,” in which he envisioned them as a civilization of microscopic, single-celled beings that control the universe by “feeding” on the Force. He briefly alluded to this in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, where midi-chlorians are the intermediaries that communicate the will of the Whills to living organisms. George’s concept was intended to be the basis for a sequel trilogy, but it was never realized after he sold Lucasfilm to Disney.
Image from the “Art of the Last Jedi”
George spoke candidly about his idea when he sat down with then-Ars Technica editor Lee Hutchinson back in 2017.
“The next three ‘Star Wars’ films] were going to get into a microbiotic world. But there’s this world of creatures that operate differently than we do. I call them the Whills. And the Whills are the ones who actually control the universe. They feed off the Force.” Lucas said.
After George sold Star Wars to Disney, he just wanted to retire, focus on philanthropy, open an art museum and tinker with experimental films. Prior to the sale, he’d been working on the treatment for a new trilogy, one that he wanted to pass it on to a new generation of filmmakers. Disney would later greenlight a story that differed from his original plans. His final Star Wars film remains Revenge of the Sith..
Lucasfilm
The opinions on George’s prequel trilogy have notably evolved over the years, with many fans disliking the concept of midi-chlorians he introduced in the prequel films, primarily because they felt it demystified the true Force. The older generation of fans had a different interpretation of what the Force was. However, many have grown to appreciate the prequels more in retrospect. This shift in perception can be attributed to a number of factors, including nostalgia, the context provided by subsequent Star Wars content, and a younger generation of fans who grew up with the films. Since the prequels, the idea behind the microscopic organism, has rarely, if ever, been used.
EPISODE IV AND BEYOND
Image from the “Art of the Last Jedi”
If George Lucas’s vision for Episode VII and beyond had become a reality, the films would have been drastically different from Disney’s versions, focusing more on political rebuilding, the threat of organized crime, along with a deeper exploration of the philosophy of the Force. We can only guess what that might have looked like. I bet it would’ve been spectacular.
In an interview with Flicks And The City sometime after the release of Episode VII George’s son, Jett Lucas, revealed how his father was hard at work on new Star Wars content.
“We know probably a year prior [to the Disney deal], he had started writing and kind of researching and starting his whole little process, and about halfway through that process is when the idea of selling to Disney came up. And so once those two collided, that’s when he kind of sat down and said, ‘Okay, I’m gonna do this.’ But… he just kind of mentioned it off-handedly like it wasn’t a big deal,” said Jett. “I was eating dinner, I wasn’t even with him; he called me, it’s like a normal conversation. I asked how he was doing, and he was like, ‘Oh, I started writing it,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, your little whatever you’re focusing on now?’ He’s like, ‘No, it’s Star Wars and such,’ and moved on, and I was like, ‘Let’s back up, let’s back up a sentence: what are you writing now?”
Jett also noted that George was “constantly talking with JJ Abrams,” the director of The Force Awakens. “He’s there to guide,” Jett added, reiterating that George sees Star Wars as his “child”.
Image from the “Art of the Last Jedi”
George’s vision for Star Wars: Episode VII, VIII, and IX would have been interesting. He is the man who wrote the trilogies we know and love. We’re only left with a what-if scenario. More of his concepts are featured in The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which contains designs of his interpretation of the Jedi Temple, an older Luke Skywalker who mentors a new disciple named Kira and a few other notable differences.
According to the book, one of the first meetings in the development of Episode VII took place at Skywalker Ranch back in 2013 with George in attendance. This is where the concept art from the book was presented. It was one of the last meetings he would ever have for a Star Wars films. Discussion in the meeting included this little nugget from /Film:
“The idea was that, 30 years after the fall of the Empire, Luke had gone to a dark place and secluded himself in a Jedi temple on a new planet.”
Image from the “Art of the Last Jedi”
Much of the concept of a hermit Luke Skywalker was used in the J.J. Abrams-produced film. But George had an entirely different idea as to how that story would go. It would’ve been drastically different from the one we saw in theaters. Some of it can be seen in the concept art book. So yes, indeed, there was also an outline for future films, and Lucas pitched it to Disney, but it was tossed out. You can read about these unused concepts in The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005 book.
To this day, storylines or concepts that George might have been developing independently for his continuation of the saga were never put into production and remain scarcely unknown to the public. But I thought I might share a few of what is known with you.
May the Force be with you…
Lucasfilm
Portions of this article originated from Popverse
Next Level Media Plus | Outerworld and StarWarsGalaxyNews 
Leave a comment