Summary

• George Lucas spoke about Disney's handling of the Star Wars sequel trilogy and its interpretation of key concepts like the Force.
• Despite his reservations, Lucas seems to accept that Star Wars is no longer his creation to control and shape.
• Lucas' comments on Disney's role in the franchise suggest a retrospective of his career and the different eras of Star Wars.

George Lucas, the original creator of the Lucas reportedly said he enjoyed Obi-Wan Kenobi. Lucas evidently thinks that not every decision Disney has made with Star Wars fits with his original concept, though.

While speaking to a crowd at the Cannes Film Festival, as per The Hollywood Reporter and El Pais, Lucas complimented Disney on the "great ideas and production." He compared himself to a parent whose children have grown up and moved away, before noting that aspects of the Disney era don't fit with his ideas.

“I was the one one who really knew what Star Wars was…who actually knew this world, because there’s a lot to it. The Force, for example, nobody understood the Force,” he said. “When they started other ones after I sold the company, a lot of the ideas that were in [the original] sort of got lost. But that’s the way it is. You give it up, you give it up.”

The sequel trilogy has come under intense scrutiny since it was first released, and some viewers took issue with the changes it made to the story and world Lucas created in the original and prequel trilogies. Lucas, too, seems to think that some of his original ideas were left out of the sequel trilogy, and that he understands the franchise better than Disney does. While his comments don't paint the most ive picture, they do seem to indicate that Lucas has learned to live with the fact that Star Wars is no longer his, even though some parts of it have changed.

George Lucas Has Made His Peace With The Fact Star Wars Is No Longer His

Lucas ended his comments about the sequel trilogy on a lighter note, saying that "that's the way it is. You give it up, you give it up." That suggests that, despite his opinion of Disney's handling of key concepts like the Force, Lucas has accepted that Star Wars is no longer his. Selling the franchise meant he wouldn't be the creative lead any longer, and changing that meant Star Wars would be taken in a different direction than his films. Lucas surely understood that, even though he may not be entirely satisfied with the Disney era.

Lucas' acceptance of Disney's role as the franchise's new leader fits with a larger theme of Lucas' comments at Cannes, as he essentially took a career retrospective through his earlier work and the different eras of Star Wars. Lucas spoke extensively about the reception of both the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy, when he was the main figure behind the camera. Lucas' comments about the sequel trilogy seem to serve as a way to cap off his career: he spoke about the work he created directly, and ended by commenting on how that work is now in someone else's hands.

The criticism of Disney's time steering the Star Wars franchise is a mixed bag. The company has certainly made some changes in particular projects, but there has also been room for several truly creative, compelling, and innovative stories that fit well with Lucas' original story. Disney's time with Star Wars is rather complex, and labeling everything the company has created since 2012 as a misunderstanding of Lucas' ideas seems like an oversimplification. Either way, George Lucas rarely speaks about the current state of Star Wars, and his recent comments gave an interesting glimpse into his opinion of Disney's ownership of the franchise.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter