Star Wars Episode VII The Hidden Circle
There have been some rumours of the next Star Wars trilogy, episodes 7 to 9, gearing up to start production. But sadly I've just found what seems to be an interview with George Lucas about this, and it seems his plan isn't to release Episode 7 until 2021! :(
Within the interview he reveals quite a lot of the plot, and some of the key sequences within the film. He also states that it will be called Episode VII The Hidden Circle and will centre around Dark Jedi, looking to capture Jedi Holocrons from the Jedi Training Temple, based in Cloud City on Bespin, to use the knowledge about the Sith and Dark Jedi orders held within them to make themselves more powerful.
If any of you have read some of the Star Wars novels and Graphic Novels, you will know that since ROTJ the Star Wars universe has continues to be written, with direct collaboration between LucasFilm, George Lucas himself, and the different writers involved in writing the novels. As such most of the novels follow an exact fixed timeline or events, so all characters, historical events etc are consistent throughout the novels and other media created. This is quite a cool feat to achieve, and considering the number of novels released to date, there is now a lot of historical timeline within the Star Wars universe to draw on, but also a lot that these next films need to get right to follow the events that have already unfolded since the last film.
Of most importance are the characters. Which it sounds like will be the central focus of the film, with Ben Skywalker (son of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade, who are married), and Anakin Skywalker and the Solo Twins (the 3 children of Han Solo and Princess Leia Organo Solo, who are also married).
There is also mention of Luke Skywalker being the head of the new Jedi Council on Coruscant, and with the Solo children being involved within the plot, Han and Leia would also be a part of the story based on events that keep all of these characters close within the books.
This will be a huge problem if Lucas waits until 2021 to make and release episode VII. If he made it now the original actors would all be just about the right age to rejuvenate their roles. Episode VII is said to be set about 30 years after ROTJ. The orginal Episode IV was just about 30 years ago, so would be perfect. And this fits perfectly with the timeline of the books, with the New Jedi Order set between 25-30 years after Episode IV when the children of both couples are Jedi and working for the New Republic.
I think now is the perfect time to make the next film, and get the original actors in, not wait another 11 years and have to find new actors to take their roles as the same characters. Maybe Harrison Ford is looking a bit old now, and while Carrie Fisher did go off the rails, get into drugs and alcohol and balloon, she seems to have sorted herself out and looks more like she used to.
Maybe Lucas is planning instead to not really include the original characters (other than Luke) in the new films, however, as Leia is a Jedi by this point, and Han Solo is still a General in the New Republic, I can't see they could avoid their inclusion.
What do you all think about this, and how and when the next film should be made?
If you want to read the interview go to http://www.starwarsepisode7.net/
However, all is not lost because the long mentioned Star Wars TV series is also in the advanced stages of planning, with rumours of production beginning in 2011! Plans are to create up to 400 1 hour episodes! That would be some stunt to pull off, and they currently still don't know how they are going to be able to create a live action Star Wars series, and be able to include the same style and technology seen in the films. It will be expensive whatever they do, but they are looking at a cost 10 times less than the films. Scripts are meant to be in the writing process at the moment, so this could be exiting stuff. The series is hinted to centre around less known characters, and not the main characters from the films. This could draw on the literature written since the films that has introduced many new characters and species to the Star Wars universe. Will be great if they can full it off. I just hope it doesn't turn into a low budget disaster if it does become reality.
The direction they took by turning The Clone Wars into an animated series, and film, was a good move, as they could include everything within the Star Wars universe, but not worry about live action special effects. Even with the stylised character designs I quite like this series and think it works pretty well. They could easily continue the animated approach to depict other events and characters within the SW universe.
