If you’re a fan of the original “Star Wars” trilogy, you are very familiar with the work of editor Marcia Lucas. Having won an Oscar for her work on ‘A New Hope,’ Lucas (who was married to George Lucas until 1983) would go on to contribute to the editing of both sequels, ‘Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return of the Jedi.’ But since then, she hasn’t worked on a “Star Wars” project, and she certainly is no fan of what Disney has done with the franchise in its most recent entries.
Speaking as part of J.W. Rinzler’s book, “Howard Kazanjian: A Producer’s Life” (via IndieWire), Marcia Lucas minced no words when talking about the direction Kathleen Kennedy has taken the “Star Wars” franchise after it was purchased by Disney. Particularly, it would appear that Lucas is very unhappy with how the classic trinity of characters (Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia) was handled in the most recent films.
“I like Kathleen. I always liked her,” Lucas said. “She was full of beans. She was really smart and really bright. Really wonderful woman. And I liked her husband, Frank. I liked them a lot. 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. 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?’”
For context, it’s important to note that the interview that this is from took place in between the release of ‘The Last Jedi’ and ‘Rise of Skywalker.’ So, when she continues to talk about the death of Luke Skywalker and Leia, she does so without the knowledge of how everything wraps up. That said, judging by her criticisms, it’s probably best if she just skipped ‘Rise of Skywalker’ completely because it doesn’t seem likely that she would enjoy it at all.
“They have Luke disintegrate,” Lucas added. “They killed Han Solo. They killed Luke Skywalker. And they don’t have Princess Leia anymore. And they’re spitting out movies every year. And 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…J.J. Abrams, Kathy Kennedy — talk to me.’”
One good thing about the criticism from Marcia Lucas is the fact that she is wrong about the “spitting out movies every year” comment. After the box office disappointment of “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and the criticisms against the new trilogy, it would appear that Lucasfilm has been more than happy to take a pause on feature films until 2023’s “Rogue Squadron” is expected to hit theaters. Of course, “Star Wars” isn’t completely dormant, as there are a number of series coming to Disney+. So, perhaps Lucas isn’t a fan of that strategy either.
Regardless, Kathleen Kennedy and J.J. Abrams would probably want to steer clear of Marcia Lucas for the foreseeable future. At least, when it comes to “Star Wars.”