George Lucas Says He’s “Moved Past STAR WARS” After Disney Took Control: “I’ve Got a Life. I’m Building a Museum.”
It’s been over a decade since George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney for $4 billion, handing over his beloved galaxy far, far away to new creative leadership.
Now, at 81, Lucas says he’s completely moved on from Star Wars, and he sounds perfectly content about it.
In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, the legendary filmmaker talked about how his focus these days isn’t on Jedi or lightsabers, but on The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, a passion project that’s reportedly cost him around $1 billion to bring to life.
The museum, set to open in Los Angeles next year, is designed to celebrate storytelling through art rather than filmmaking specifically.
While the name “Lucas” might make people expect a Star Wars showcase, the director of A New Hope made it clear that’s not what he wants.
“It’s one gallery out of 33. And I did it grudgingly,” Lucas said. “I didn’t want people to come to the museum and say, ‘Where’s the Star Wars?’”
There will be a nod to his space saga, including an N-1 Starfighter from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, but that’s about it. Lucas doesn’t want his museum to be defined by one franchise—no matter how iconic it is.
When asked about how he feels about Star Wars today, Lucas didn’t mince words. “Disney took it over and they gave it their vision. That’s what happens. Of course I’ve moved past it. I mean, I’ve got a life. I’m building a museum. A museum is harder than making movies.”
It’s a straightforward acknowledgment from a man who’s spent the past decade quietly stepping away from the universe he created. While he’s visited the occasional set since the sale, Lucas has largely avoided commenting on the franchise’s direction.
When Disney bought Lucasfilm, there were early plans to use Lucas’ outlines for the sequel trilogy, but the studio ultimately chose a different path, leading to The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker.
Those films divided fans and left many wondering what Lucas’ version of the story might have been. In a previous interview, he reflected on how his vision for Star Wars was lost after the handover:
“I was the one who really knew what Star Wars was…who actually knew this world, because there’s a lot to it,” he said.
“The Force, for example, nobody understood the Force. 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.”
As for Lucasfilm’s current state, fans have expressed frustration with how the franchise has been managed under President Kathleen Kennedy. With Kennedy expected to step down at some point, Dave Filoni, the studio’s chief creative officer and one of Lucas’ protégés, is rumored to be the favorite to take over.
If that happens, it would put a storyteller back in charge of the galaxy Lucas built.
But don’t expect Lucas himself to come back for another adventure in the Star Wars universe. He’s happy focusing on his museum.
For a guy who changed cinema, The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is like the perfect next chapter: one where storytelling still reigns supreme, just in a different form.