Culture news “She will die on the spot” The creator of Star Wars was not reassured during the filming of this part of the saga, this film could have condemned this cult SF universe
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Forty-seven years later, the Star Wars universe is still very present in pop culture and comes in a whole bunch of different formats. However, in the mind of Georges Lucas, this trajectory seemed completely unexpected and he did not believe it for a single second. The moment he most doubted the future of Star Wars was during the making of this episode. According to him, it was double or nothing!
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Star Wars, an unexpected success that left a lasting mark on pop culture
We cannot say that the iconic director Georges Lucas was, after the release of the episode IV: A new hopevery optimistic about the future of the franchise Star Wars. In its defense, the success of this inaugural part was unexpected and did not really foreshadow the repercussions that we are experiencing on pop-culture ! And then, there was this passing of the torch between episode 4 and 5 since it was not Georges Lucas who was responsible for directing but rather Irvin Kershner, a name that we tend to forget.
In a way, George Lucas spared himself the complicated challenge of the sequel by entrusting the production to another filmmaker. However, this is what contributed to forging this concern around the franchise Star Wars. For his part, the father of Star Wars could not have been clearer on the objective of this fifth episode, The Empire Strikes Backwhich may have complicated Kershner's task, in addition to causing a lot of stress. He simply wanted Kershner “to make a better film than A New Hope” and “ make it as good as possible “.
George Lucas was convinced that Star Wars would die if The Empire Strikes Back failed
As if these imperatives were not enough, Georges Lucas plunged further into the path of pessimism by believing that everything would be decided for Star Wars thanks to this film. In the early 2000s, the director of The Empire Strikes Back expressed the immense fears of Georges Lucas in the columns of the magazine Star Wars Insider #49. We can also see in this quote that his predecessor did not beat around the bush.
When I talked to George about it before taking the film, he explained something to me. He said to me: Look, the second movie in the Star Wars trilogy, if it's not as good or better than A New Hope, it's not going to become a franchise. She will die immediately. It (Episode V) must live up to the original and exceed it, if possible.
Still, almost 44 years after the release of this fifth episode, the franchise is far from being dead and buried. Failing to have sealed it, The Empire Strikes Back is perhaps the part that ensured this recognition since many fans see it as the best feature film in the saga. Certainly, Georges Lucas made a mistake on this one but he knew how to sense things in advance. According to him, the format that could best suit Star Warsthese are the television series and, when we see the box of The Mandalorian, Andor Or The Clone Warswe say to ourselves that he was (partly) right.