Lucas is the consummate control freak and perfectionist. The idea he would write a story and hand it over to someone else to mangle is frankly ridiculous. He could have only done it if he had decided to move on. Because he could just as easily have not sold Lucasfilm and filmed episode 7 himself and handed off film 8 and 9 to other directors while producing them and co-plotting the screenplays.
Especially considering how shrewd he was to hold onto the sequel rights and the control of these films in the first place with FOX, i find it hard to believe he was tricked by Iger somehow. I just don’t think he was all that interested he wanted to open a museum and enjoy retirement.
Lucas had like 7 years in between episode III and the sale. He spent all this time on Clone Wars the cartoon and the unmade underworld tv series, time he could have spent at least writing and getting episode 7 out the door. I submit he was more interested in the prequel era, if he was so excited about continuing Luke’s story he had from 1984 to 2012 in which to resume it. He never did. The prequels robbed us of direct sequels as did general lack of interest on George’s part. If the prequel era interested him that much and consumed him, who is to tell him no. He created Star Wars.
And finally even when he handed off to Disney he knew the movie sequels he wanted to make were a continuation and extension of the prequels, and that the fans would have hated them. And Disney rightly or wrongly also made the same judgement on those treatments that they were sequels to the prequels and not the OT, and weren’t going to spend billions of dollars on some weird non commercial midichlorian movie.
I see the complete opposite. I see someone who is very passionate about having their vision accurately portrayed. He himself has referred to his belief in the auteur theory. If he was truly egotistical he would’ve made Episode VII (he briefly considered) and then sold the company. He didn’t and I can’t blame the guy for believing in his vision. I also can’t blame him for being wary of having anyone else creating stories in his sandbox. Similar to how J.R.R. Tolkien was wary of Disney having the rights to his books. Authors are passionate and protective over their work.
To me The Clone Wars was his passion project to break into television. He also began writing his treatments for the sale in 2011. This is right after Darth Maul makes his return and we know he was the big bad. I think he was planting seeds in some ways of connecting the series and era to his Sequels. Whether it be with Darth Maul or the Yoda arc exploring the more metaphysical side of the Force or even the mystery of Sifo-Dyas. They were seeds planted I think to create lines.
The reason Underworld didn’t get made was because of cost. They were waiting for it to go down. It’s a shame as the series and 1313 would’ve been very intriguing looks at the galaxy that I don’t think we’ll see under Disney.
Mark Hamill also has the story in the 80’s of George asking him to return in 2011 and that the Sequels could end in another plane of existence. There’s also Steven Spielberg saying in the 90’s that part of George’s concept for the Sequels was rooted in doing the first three and then the Prequels to that.
I see his Sequels as a continuation of both the Prequels and Originals. I see something that would’ve brought both trilogies together while giving us something new to contemplate.
It’s hard to say if the fans would hate them as The Clone Wars was vastly popular. Not every fan hated the Prequels and the kids who grew up with them were coming of age. Same with the return of Luke, Leia, and Han. I think his Sequels would’ve done just fine.
Ultimately it wasn’t to be and I’m still trying to accept that.