Agreed. Although as far as I’m aware that is what a lot of the contributors on this site have been asking for over the past 10+ years. We can still have a “special” edition, but have the original theatrical version alongside it. And I do think this is a great compromise, because you will always have the original versions to enjoy, but you also can have some updated versions that fit in more, effects-wise, with the other movies in the saga as well.

Though like Zerome said, I also think that the fan editing/preservation community are much more capable to create a solid theatrical preservation and a “modern” special edition than anything official. The 97 SE, the GOUT and even the 2011 edition all have issues that have been discussed ad nauseam here. Maybe under new leadership that would be different, but I am not holding my breath.

I mean, think of what we already have. For the theatrical version, we have Harmy’s Despecialized Editions and the various 4K projects. And as far as modern Special Editions go, we have Ady’s Revisited Trilogy as well as Hal’s custom Special Editions. There’s also no telling what other projects will pop up in the future.

But I suppose these will only get so much attention and the general Star Wars audience might not ever know about it, so I agree it would be nice for them to release something officially.