Disney CEO Says George Lucas Felt "Betrayed" By Plans For Star Wars Sequels

George Lucas is a legend in the film industry for his creation of the iconic Star Wars franchise, but he apparently had a difficult time in seeing the latest films plan out without his input.

In 2012, Lucas sold the Lucasfilm company to Disney for $4 billion - allowing them to take over the Star Wars franchise. The Force Awakens was released in 2015, followed by The Last Jedi in 2017. The third film of the latest trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker, will be released in December of this year.

Even though Lucas received a nice payday to surrender the rights of the franchise that he constructed four decades ago, Disney CEO Robert Iger revealed that Lucas felt "betrayed" when it came to planning the latest Star Wars films.

Iger details the events in his latest memoir, The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned From 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company (h/t Graeme McMillan of The Hollywood Reporter).

Iger wrote that the purchasing agreement detailed Disney "would not be contractually obligated to adhere to the plot lines" that Lucas "laid out." And once Disney explained to him how they would go about writing the stories, Lucas "immediately got upset," said Iger.

"George felt betrayed, and while this whole process would never have been easy for him, we’d gotten off to an unnecessarily rocky start," Iger wrote, while adding that Lucas also "didn't hide his disappointment."

Related: [Report] Disney To Slow Down Production Of Star Wars Films

It's easy to understand where Lucas' disappointment was coming from, but you can't blame the guy for accepting all that money. Lucas had emphasized that he wasn't interested in doing more Star Wars films, and Disney jumped on the opportunity to keep it going.

There was a 32-year gap between the releases of Return of the Jedi (1983) and The Force Awakens (2015). With major changes in the film industry over the years - especially with CGI and special effects - Disney was obviously going to present a much different picture than what we got in the original Star Wars trilogy.

Even if Lucas didn't get his ideas in for the latest Star Wars trilogy, fans of the franchise will be forever thankful that he allowed Disney to continue the film series. After all, a large portion of Star Wars followers will never be able to get enough of it.

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