STAR WARS Editor & George Lucas' Ex-Wife Criticizes Sequels And Kathleen Kennedy's Handling Of The Franchise

STAR WARS Editor & George Lucas' Ex-Wife Criticizes Sequels And Kathleen Kennedy's Handling Of The Franchise

Marcia Lucas, George Lucas' ex-wife and the Oscar-winning editor of Star Wars, has shared her thoughts on the sequels, blasting Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and filmmaker J.J. Abrams. Check it out!

By JoshWilding - Sep 20, 2021 11:09 AM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars

J.W. Rinzler's new book, Howard Kazanjian: A Producer's Life, has just been released and it features insights from veteran editor Marcia Lucas, George Lucas' ex-wife. She made a name for herself working on movies like Taxi Driver and American Graffiti (the latter would earn her an Oscar nomination), and later won an Oscar for Star Wars: A New Hope

After also working on The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, it's fair to say Lucas knows her way around that Galaxy Far, Far Away. Despite praising current Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy as a "wonderful woman" who is "really smart and really bright," she's not a fan of the direction the Star Wars sequels took the iconic franchise. 

"Now that she’s running Lucasfilm and making movies, it seems to me that Kathy Kennedy and J.J. Abrams don’t have a clue about Star Wars. They don’t get it," Lucas stated. "And J.J. Abrams is writing these stories...when I saw that movie where they kill Han Solo, I was furious. I was furious when they killed Han Solo. Absolutely, positively there was no rhyme or reason to it. I thought, You don’t get the Jedi story. You don’t get the magic of Star Wars."

"You’re getting rid of Han Solo? And then at the end of this last one, The Last Jedi, they have Luke disintegrate. They killed Han Solo. They killed Luke Skywalker. And they don’t have Princess Leia anymore. And they’re spitting out movies every year."

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Lucas went on to make it clear that she wasn't on board with Rey's portrayal as a seemingly all-powerful Jedi. "They think it’s important to appeal to a woman’s audience, so now their main character is this female, who’s supposed to have Jedi powers, but we don’t know how she got Jedi powers, or who she is. It sucks. The storylines are terrible. Just terrible. Awful. You can quote me."

It's one thing for fans to tear into the movies, but the Academy Award-winning editor of the original Star Wars? That's quite something. For what it's worth, Lucasfilm appears to have taken these criticisms on board, and while too much fan service proved to be a bad thing in The Rise of Skywalker, it's hard to fault what we've seen on the small screen in The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars.

The former even appears to be explaining some of the mystery behind Supreme Leader Snoke's creation, though there are still plenty of unanswered questions that have yet to be addressed. 

Where do you think the Star Wars sequels went wrong? 

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HulkisHoly
HulkisHoly - 9/21/2021, 8:37 AM
She’s not wrong. Both the prequel and sequel trilogies are pretty awful.
I mean at least the sequel trilogy has good visuals. 😂
nhoj3
nhoj3 - 9/21/2021, 9:35 AM
The problem with the prequels was that George had been so idolized for the OT that he no longer felt that he needed to seek the advice of others. Star Wars (1977) in particular was as good as it was because he bounced ideas off his friends like Coppola and Spielberg who challenged him to elevate the material in many ways, not to mention his wife saving the film in the editing room. When it came time for the prequels, he was surrounded only by people falling over themselves to "realize his vision".

And she's bang on about the sequel trilogy.
Fogs
Fogs - 9/22/2021, 9:29 AM
@nhoj3 - "[Lucas] no longer felt that he needed to seek the advice of others"

That's exactly what I got from watching the DVD extras back then when the prequel films came out. He was too powerful and noone challenged his bad decisions.
Mercwitham0uth
Mercwitham0uth - 9/21/2021, 9:50 AM
She's not wrong at all. The prequels were awful and the current films VII-IX and Solo were just terrible.

Rogue One was the only film that was enjoyable.
Quinn
Quinn - 9/21/2021, 10:55 PM
@Mercwitham0uth - Nah
Mercwitham0uth
Mercwitham0uth - 9/21/2021, 10:57 PM
@Quinn - Shaddap, sugartits.
Fogs
Fogs - 9/22/2021, 9:34 AM
@Mercwitham0uth - IMHO SW films are more bad then good nowadays:

- Ep1: 2/5
- Ep2: 1/5
- Ep3: 3/5
- Ep4: 5/5
- Ep5: 5/5
- Ep6: 4/5
- Ep7: 3/5
- Ep8: 1/5
- Ep9: 1/5
- Rogue One: 2/5
- Solo: 1/5

Average: 2.5/5
Quinn
Quinn - 9/23/2021, 2:15 AM
@Mercwitham0uth - Stop calling me that!!!
Mercwitham0uth
Mercwitham0uth - 9/23/2021, 2:36 AM
@Quinn - NEVER!!!!
The1st
The1st - 9/21/2021, 11:52 AM
JonC
JonC - 9/21/2021, 1:15 PM
Marcia is the person that created the Star Wars that we know and love today... she saved it in the edit from what George originally presented. She knows what she's talking about... Star Wars is in her very DNA possibly more than anyone else.

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