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Originally posted by: Luke Skywalker
my opinion is he wrote ANH realized how much of a success it was... then wrote ESB, got more money and figured hell, why not make another, hence ROTJ..
This is from IMDB. I've heard this from other sources as well, and I belive this is the real story:
"Although it is often claimed by George Lucas that Star Wars was always intended as part of a series (originally nine parts, later six), producer Gary Kurtz claimed differently in a interview in 1999. According to Kurtz, Star Wars was meant to be a standalone film. It was only after the film's incredible success that he and Lucas got together to consider sequels. They came up with the idea that Star Wars was the fourth story of a nine-part series and penned rough outlines for each episode. After releasing the "fifth" episode (The Empire Strikes Back (1980)), Lucas made Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) with Steven Spielberg. The success of this film convinced Lucas to increase the emphasis on action in the "sixth" Star Wars episode. According to Kurtz, the Emperor was not originally going to make an appearance until episode 9. Luke and Leia were not brother and sister. There was no Death Star II. The search for Han Solo was the main plot of the film, during which Luke would have furthered his Jedi training. Solo was going to die in the final battle. Luke was going to go off to complete/continue his Jedi training and Leia was going to resume her position as Queen of her people, separating the major characters in a "downer" ending similar to that of Episode 5. Kurtz strongly objected to Lucas'schanges and insisted they should stay with the story they had originally planned. Lucas just as strongly disagreed and the two parted company. (Kurtz left to make Dark Crystal, The (1982) with 'Henson, Jim' and hasn't worked with Lucas since.)"
I have no idea why George keeps lying about this.