Darth Plagueis Review
Warning: This review may contain minor spoilers.
To be honest, when a Darth Plagueis novel was announced back in 2007 it didn’t really excite me. When the book was then cancelled it didn’t bother me. I had never really been that curious about Palpatine or his master. I had always thought of Palpatine as this power hungry politician who happened to be a secret Sith. Frankly, I didn’t like the guy. He seemed cowardly and purely evil, and if Anakin hadn’t walked in when he did, Mace Windu would have finished him off.
Then the book received new lease on life and was put back on the schedule for a 2012 release. I still wasn’t excited. Review copies went out and I started to hear good things. Very good things. “Best Star Wars book I’ve read in a long time” kind of things. I began to be interested. George Lucas had input? Howard Roffman helped shape the story? This wasn’t just another Star Wars novel. Here is some text found in the front of the review copy of the book.
THIS STORY IS CANON!: The back story of Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious was developed hand-in-glove with the highest authorities at Lucasfilm, to ensure that nothing contradicts George Lucas’s vision of his creations!
Now as a fan of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, I consider most of the books to be canon on some level, but the above statement seems to imply that this book is to be considered on par with The Clone Wars and the films. Now I found I wasn’t only interested, but very excited to read this book. So I got my hands on a copy!
Here is the text from the flap of the book.
Darth Plagueis: one of the most brilliant Sith Lords who ever lived. Possessing power is all he desires. Losing it is the only thing he fears. As an apprentice, he embraces the ruthless ways of the Sith. And when the time is right, he destroys his Master—but vows never to suffer the same fate. For like no other disciple of the dark side, Darth Plagueis learns to command the ultimate power . . . over life and death.
Darth Sidious: Plagueis’s chosen apprentice. Under the guidance of his Master, he secretly studies the ways of the Sith, while publicly rising to power in the galactic government, first as Senator, then as Chancellor, and eventually as Emperor.
Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious, Master and acolyte, target the galaxy for domination—and the Jedi Order for annihilation. But can they defy the merciless Sith tradition? Or will the desire of one to rule supreme, and the dream of the other to live forever, sow the seeds of their destruction?”
In short, Darth Plagueis is the story of Sith Lord Darth Plagueis, his rise to power, and his selection and molding of Palpatine as his Sith apprentice. The bulk of the story takes place in the 33 or so years leading up to the events of The Phantom Menace. In many ways, the book can be seen as a direct prequel to The Phantom Menace, although the book Cloak of Deception already holds that distinction.
The book is written masterfully by James Luceno. His writing is very intense and gritty, but not without humor. Lines like “I assure you, Captain, I am a Muun of my word” made me smile and an in-joke about Jocasta Nu and her lack of knowledge of Kamino made me laugh out loud. Since the book is a story of the Sith, it is expected that there will be a certain amount of darkness to it. Just when you find yourself rooting for the main characters they do something so heinous there can be no redemption for it. There is one scene in particular where the violence reaches levels not usually seen in Star Wars books. Palpatine is not a Sith to be messed with.
One of the more interesting aspects of the book are the philosophies of Plagueis about the Sith. Much of Sith history is talked about including many of the masters and apprentices in the Sith line from Bane to Sidious. The beginning of the book especially reminded me of the first Darth Bane novel in that it was a Sith’s journey to reinvent the Sith. It seems that Sith ideals change from master to master, and Plagueis is no exception. His view on the dark side, rule of two, and midi-chlorians have a new twist and are compelling to read about.
All the talk about “canon” and “George’s vision” had me a little worried that other Expanded Universe sources would be ignored. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Almost every character, planet, organization, and event in this book has significance elsewhere in the EU. I know that sounds like overkill, but it really wasn’t. Luceno wrote it in such a way that if you are in the know, you would get it, and if not, you would just see them as background characters in the book. That’s not to say that there wasn’t an advantage to having read the other EU sources., as I felt like my enjoyment of the book was multiplied because of my familiarity of the other EU material. Here is a list of some of the EU books and comics whose stories ran parallel to, and were weaved in seamlessly into, this book.
The novel Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
The short story Darth Maul: Saboteur
The novel Cloak of Deception
The comic series Darth Maul
The comic Republic #64 “Bloodlines”
The comic The Stark Hyperspace War
The comic Jedi Council: Acts of War
There are cameos throughout from major and minor film characters from both trilogies. Even fans of The Clone Wars TV series will get excited over a couple of character mentions!
Overall, I loved this book and would highly recommend it to any Star Wars fan. I would almost go as far as saying it is required reading for anyone who wants to fully understand the machinations and politics in the Prequels. This book clearly lays out the overall Sith plan and makes connections you would have never expected. It leads right up to the end of The Phantom Menace, and my guess is you will never see the movie the same after reading it!
Author: Aaron Goins
Aaron mostly shares his geeky thoughts through podcasting (Star Wars Bookworms, Bad Wolf Radio, Star Scavengers) but his writings can also be found on sites like StarWars.com, Geek Tyrant, and Jedi News UK.
I admit that I was not at all interested in this book before reading this article. However, I certainly appreciate the efforts of James Luceno to tie in to other E.U. story lines. Especially as they are in multiple forms of media. Also, the philosophies and many ideas of the force have always intrigued me, but up to this point, they have been heavily influenced from the viewpoint of the Jedi. I am interested to gain a better idea of the dark sides perspective as well. Thanks for the info, and especially no spoilers. Read this book, I shall.
I can’t wait to read this book!
[…] review over at EU Cantina My review here at Star Wars Report Pete’s review over at Lightsaber […]
This review made me want to read this book
For some reason I can’t remove this spam comment. *sigh* And yes David, it is stupid. ~ Bethany
I found the book great too, even though it has its flaws
“There’s this notion that everything changed when everything became Legends. And I can see why people think that. But, you know, having worked with George I can tell you that it was always very clear — and he made it very clear — that the films and the TV shows were the only things that he considered Canon. That was it.*
“So everything else was a world of fun ideas, exciting characters, great possibilities, the EU was created to explore all those things.And I know and I fully respect peoples opinions about it that some of the material said ‘the next canon part of it’ [it wasnt]…. But from the filmmaking world I was brought into, *the films and TV shows were it”.*
~ Dave Filoni speaking about working with George Lucas
This is the actual video of when Dave Filoni said the above quotes during an interview on ‘The Star Wars show’ [41.40 mark]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcNXPNXOv2A&t=16s
It wasn’t canon at all and about the – “THIS STORY IS CANON!: The back story of DarthPlagueis and Darth Sidious was developed hand-in-glove with the highest authorities at Lucasfilm, to ensure that nothing contradicts George Lucas’s vision of his creations!”
Here’s Pablo Hidalgo saying that was nothing but a rumor, that it wasn’t true, Lucas did not work with him on it and that it wasn’t canon.
“Someone brought up Darth Plagueis and the novel with the same name. They lamented that this book wasn’t considered canon, however Pablo interjected that it couldn’t be canon simply because there are several contradictions between what George believed about Plagueis and Palpatine’s origins and what the author extrapolated. There was a rumor on the internet that the author of that book, James Luceno, worked directly with Lucas when creating the story, but Pablo shot that down saying that it wasn’t true. At the end, though, he did say that Plagueis as a character is still canon and could be used in other stories very easily.”
~ Pablo Hidalgo interview, Library-Con, 2016
https://thecinemafiles.com/2016/10/26/q-a-with-pablo-hidalgo-the-head-of-the-star-wars-story-group-at-disney/
The only canon regarding Darth Plagueis in Lucas Canon is his name and what was said in Revenge Of the Sith.
………………………………………………………………
Let’s put this EU was canon BS to rest – Here’s tons of proof.
Lucas Licensing ‘considered it canon in the EU universe’.
They shouldn’t have used that word, but this is how the used deceptive language to make it seem like the EU had more legitmacy than it did.
Let me show you what I mean – Here was Lucas Licensing’s policy at the time. This was ONLY Lucas Licensing’s policy and it only applied to the Expanded Universe works.
“According to Lucas Licensing editor Sue Rostini “Canon refers to an authoritative list of books that Lucas Licensing editors consider an authentic part of the official Star Wars history. Our goal is to present a continuous and unified history of the Star Wars galaxy, insofar as that history does not conflict with, or undermines the meaning of Mr. Lucas’s Star Wars saga and screenplays.”
“Whether people deciede to accept this definition is up to them.”
This is a link to the exact policy as it was originally published in 2000.
– https://ibb.co/txWdvKy
……….
If we were to take this as a Company wide policy than that would literally mean that George Lucas’s words [The 6 movies and The Clone Wars series [2008] weren’t canon. He didn’t write any books.
So right there you can see how this couldn’t possibly have been a unified policy that applied to George Lucas.
Second problem with it is, that Canon is NOT OPTIONAL. They said ‘whether or not people deciede to accept this definition is up to them.’ because they knew full well that George Lucas DIDN’T consider it canon, in fact he literally said it was a parallel Star Wars universe. It was the only way he would let anyone else write Star Wars stories. It wasn’t canon as far as he was concerned and it was an entirely separate universe unto itself, where his works DID happen, because that’s how it could be a ‘parallel Star Wars universe’, it had to have Star Wars in it.
They used the same exactly model as Star Trek has.
One Universe for the movies and the TV shows which are the canon
And a second universe for the tie ins, books, comics and games and that wasn’t canonical.
Now let me prove that.
“I don’t read that stuff, I haven’t read any of the novels. I don’t know anything about that world. That’s a different world than my world. But I do try and keep it consistent. The way I do it is they have a Star Wars encyclopedia. So if I come up with a name or something else, I look it and see if it has already been used. When I said other people could make thier own Star Wars stories, we decided that, like Star Trek, we would have TWO universes: My Universe and than this other one. They try to make THIER universe as consistent with mine as possible, but obviously they get enthusiastic and want to go off in other directiions.”
~ George Lucas, August, 2005
https://ibb.co/Km1CcNs
……………
You’ll note in the above quote it says
“we decided that, like Star Trek, we would have TWO universes: My Universe and than this other one.”The folliwing quote is in reference to that –
“Howard Roffman [President of Lucas Licensing], He once said to me that there are two Star Trek universes: there’s the TV show and then there’s all the spin-offs. He said that these were completely different and didn’t have anything to do with each other. So I said, “OK, go ahead.”
~ George Lucas 2008
Because when Howard Roffman brought him the idea about the Expanded Universe, Lucas shot him down almost immediately and said “There is no way I am ever letting anyone else but me say what is Star Wars and what isn’t. And this was the idea Roffman put to him to try and sway him. And do under those condition he would allow it. A non-canonical parallel universe. HE didn’t consider it canon. That’s why they said in the policy – “Whether people deciede to accept this definition is up to them.” because they knew George Lucas has said he didn’t and he wouldn’t. These were seperate universes.
………….
“There are two worlds here,” explained Lucas. “There’s my world, which is the movies, and there’s this other world that has been created, which I say is the parallel universe – the licensing world of the books, games and comic books.
~ George Lucas, Cinescape, 2002
………
“Q: What do you think of the Expanded Universe of books?
A: “The books are in a different universe. I’ve not read any of them, and I told them when they started writing I wouldn’t read any of them and I blocked out certain periods.”
~ George Lucas 2003
………….
“TVGuide: Yet novelists have written “Star Wars” sequels using the same characters and extending their stories.
“Oh, sure. They’re done outside my little universe.”
~ George Lucas, Flannelled One, November 2001 – TV Guide interview
———————————
“The question selected from The Furry Conflict poll was: How much does the Expanded Universe influence the movies?
“As I asked him, Lucas leaned back a moment and said to me “Very little.” When he first had agreed to let people write Expanded Universe books, he had said “I’m not gonna read ‘em” and it was a “different universe” and that he wanted to keep away from the time period of his saga. He jokingly complained, however, that now when he writes a script he has to look through an encyclopedia to make sure that a name he comes up with doesn’t come too close to something in the EU.”
– “Marc Xavier”, November 2003, “The Furry Conflict and the Great ‘Beard‘ of the Galaxy (report based on a Q&A session with George Lucas which occurred at USC on 11-19-03)
——–
There’s 5 quotes from George Lucas right there where he says they are seperate universes.
Now let’s look at some quotes from other notable figures who worked in Star Wars and knew him and knew the things he said, and how he felt on the matter.
There are a gazillion quotes but i’m just gonna limit it to 2 or 3 from each person or this will take all night
…………
I’m gonna start with Leland Chee, because he was lieing fuck, who for some reason that defies all knowledge, sometimes told the truth, why the fuck he did it that way, I have no idea, but he got caught leing in 2012 and had to admit it and after that, he said it many times, what the reality of it was.
Leland Chee Quotes
Someone in an interview called him on it and said, why are you saying its only one universe when Lucas said it was two and here’s the interview –
Q: Hi Mr Chee! I’ve got a question about continuity – are all the various different media of Star Wars (the films, TCW, the video games, the EU) intended to form a single universe, or is the EU intended as a parallel, alternate universe (like, for example, the different continuities between the various Batman comics and films)? I realise that fans tend to each have their own personal preferences, but I was wondering what the official Lucasfilm company policy regarding this was? Many thanks!
“The dual universe question comes up often. I know George Lucas has mentioned it being two universes, but that’s not how I see it. His vision is definitely not beholden to ours, but ours is definitely beholden to his.”
Leland Chee 2012
………….
“What George did with the films and The Clone Wars was pretty much his universe ,” Chee said. “He didn’t really have that much concern for what we were doing in the books and games. So the Expanded Universe was very much separate.”
~ Leland Chee, 2017 – SYFY WIRE
——————
“Lucas’ canon – and when I say ‘his canon’, I’m talking about what he was doing in the films and what he was doing in The Clone Wars – was hugely important. But what we were doing in the books really wasn’t on his radar.”
~ Leland Chee, 2018
The irony here is, that while the other people knew and worked with Lucas, Leland Chee never even met George Lucas, they literally never said a single word to each other in their entire lives.
“I did not have direct contact with George about Star Wars continuity. Dave Filoni, who worked on Clone Wars, definitely did. So for me, the spirit of George’s work is what’s in the films, and it doesn’t go too far beyond that.”
~ Leland Chee 2018
“I didn’t have any direct contact with George about Star Wars. – I would see some notes based on the interviews or the meetings. But I did not have direct contact with George about Star Wars continuity.”*
~ Leland Chee 2018
Here’s one of the times he told the truth for some reason –
“..Is the ‘foggy window’ of the EU materials as described above referring to a window into the ‘real’ Star Wars universe of the Film alone continuity, the ‘real’ Star Wars universe of the Film+EU continuity?
“Film+EU continuity. Anything not in the current version of the films is irrelevant to Film only continuity.”
~ Leland Chee, 2006
And what goes in the blank timeline spaces of the Film Only universe – can we never know the history or background of that Star Wars universe like we can in the EU Star Wars universe?
“Nothing. That’s why it’s film only.”
~ Leland Chee, 2007
https://ibb.co/3dBN7Sw
Okay, so here we have him admitting in 2006 and 2007 that there are two universes and two continuties
You can’t have one canon for two universes that have differences.
Here’s Leland Chee saying that whole “Canon Tier” thing wasn’t what people thought it was, this is BS because he was trying to be deceptive in earlier years and now he’s kinda trying to blame it on the fans that it was them who didn’t understand it correctly. It is true that it really didn’t have anything to do with canon, it was literally a filing system that he used for the Holocron. It was like the Dewey Decimal system in the library –
“I think people over emphasize the importance of the canon level. The intent of the canon levels was, as the main intent was ‘if someones looking for the ships from a film, they can than use those fields to check for them only in the films,and thus separate that from what was in the EU. So we can look at it case by case. I think there is an over emphasis of what those fields mean and what they represent”. ~ Leland Chee
“That ‘level of canon’ thus helps in terms of bookkeeping. Those ‘canon levels’ are for the holocron.” ~ Pablo Hidalgo
ForceCast #273: The Galaxy Is Reading – Interview with Leland Chee and Pablo Hidalgo, 2013Starts at about the 1 hour mark so 1:00 – 1:02 mark
http://www.forcecast.net/story/home/ForceCast_273_The_Galaxy_Is_Reading_154431.asp
……
“Dave Filoni is better equipped to relay Lucas’ true feelings about the EU.”
~ Leland Chee
[This is the kiss of death right here. Dave Filoni was George Lucas’s protege for 7 years, they worked together on TCWs.
Dave Filoni Quotes
This is from an interview on the Star Wars show, you can watch the video yourself –
“There’s this notion that everything changed when everything became Legends. And I can see why people think that. But, you know, having worked with George I can tell you that it was always very clear — and he made it very clear — that the films and the TV shows were the only things that he considered Canon. That was it. –
Dave Filoni interview on ‘The Star Wars show’ [41.40 mark]- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcNXPNXOv2A&t=16s
“So everything else was a world of fun ideas, exciting characters, great possibilities, the EU was created to explore all those things.And I know and I fully respect peoples opinions about it that some of the material said ‘the next canon part of it’ [It wasn’t canon]…. But from the filmmaking world I was brought into, the films and TV shows were it”.
*~ Dave Filoni speaking about working with George Lucas
………..
“The terminology of “Expanded Universe” was a careful one; it expanded on the world created in the core stories, but was never officially meant to be Star Wars canon, according to the Maker himself, George Lucas.”
~ Dave Filoni 2017
——————–
“There is no more clear illustration of the difference between the Expanded Universe and the Star Wars created by George Lucas. The EU is a well of ideas, and there’s what’s on screen. They don’t live in the same universe. Everyone wants to think so, I know… We just need to think of it all as a creative collection of fun ideas separate from what George Lucas has made.”
~ Dave Filoni 2012
………………
Pablo Hidalgo Quotes on the EU not being canon
“What George Saw as Canon”
“In the old days, George Lucas saw his universe as separate from publishing [EU]. He wasn’t at all interested in connecting.”
~ Pablo Hidalgo [Lucasfilm Story Group] 2016
http://i.imgur.com/6ZOkAau.png
——————
Pablo Hidalgo on Lucas and the EU being separate Universes.
https://i.redd.it/3fpbkocr43q01.png
“He [Lucas] only considers his movies and TV projects as his universe, and told the Clone Wars writers to only worry about those.”
-Pablo Hidalgo [Lucasfilm Story Group]
———————-
“Canon is only what’s on the screen. – Episodes I-VI, TCW and what’s to come.”
Pablo Hidalgo, 2013 –
https://ibb.co/S0fYM7q
———-
“From Issue 77 Of Star Wars Insider, Using Dark Empire & The Thrawn Trilogy As Examples. – https://ibb.co/K9PMgH3
“So so episodes beyond Return of the Jedi exist? Nothing beyond possible story points and ideas, certainly not fleshed out story treatments or scripts. Fans often wonder if Dark Empire or the Thrawn Trilogy were based off those notes or are meant to be Episodes VII, VIII, IX. – That’s not the case.
Those works are the creation of their respective authors with the guidance of editors at Lucas Licensing. They are not, nor ever were, meant to be George Lucas’ definitive vision of what happens next”
~ Pablo Hidalgo, 2004
——————
“But Lucas allows for an Expanded Universe that exists parallel to the one he directly oversees. […] Though these [Expanded Universe] stories may get his stamp of approval, they don’t enter his canon unless they are depicted cinematically in one of his projects.”
~ Pablo Hidalgo, Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion, 2012
…………….
Here’s some from Sue Rostoni who is the same lady who said about what Lucas Licensing considers canon in the EU universe –
“George knows more about Star Wars than we do. He doesn’t see the Expanded Universe as ”his” Star Wars, but as ”ours.” I think this has been mentioned previously, maybe in other places, but it’s not new info, as far as I remember.”
~ Sue Rostoni, Lucas Licensing (LLP Managing Editor),2004
“Does the main storyline for books and comics go through Lucas to make sure it isn’t going to conflict with future movies?
No. George doesn’t give us much information about his future movies until he’s making them. In general, George does not take the EU into account when he’s making his movies. ”
~ Sue Rostoni, LucasBooks/LL Managing Editor, 2003
[He doesn’t take his own canon into account in his movies? What’s in his movies than, only non-canon??! heh]
“I know that GL doens’t create the storys and concepts for the SW novels, but does anyone know if he approves overall story ideas?”
“George doesn’t see the overall story ideas or concepts. If there is a sensitive area, or if we are developing backstory for a character he’s created or mentioned in an interview, we can query him to get more information, his approval, or whatever. And yes, we always query him if we’re doing something drastic to a film character. I believe he does read the concepts for the games though.”
– Sue Rostoni, Lucas Licensing (LLP Managing Editor),2004
As far as ”legitimate continuation of the films” — If George had continued making SW films past Return of the Jedi, I don’t think they would have reflected what the SW authors have written. The books, comics, etc., are a ”legitimate continuation” of the Star Wars saga as we [Lucas Licensing] define it. ”
~ Sue Rostoni, Lucas Licensing (LLP Managing Editor), 2005
……….
Here’s some quotes from various EU authors admitting they knew the EU wasn’t canon and a quote from the idiot who wrote that book saying he never spoke to George Lucas he just asked him question in letter form and got a reply and its virtually nothing.
I know GL doesn’t have much – if anything – to do with the EU works….but he does get involved with some of the major stuff, like his approval for Chewie’s death etc. Curious how high up the chain you had to go in regards to the in universe timing of the end of the Plagueis?
“As I’ve said in other forums, GL was the one who said that Plagueis should be a Muun, and that Plagueis should have an “accident” that forces him to wear a mask.”
~ James Lucerno Interview, EU Author, 2012
Here’s him admitting he was sitting at a table next to George Lucas at Skywalker Ranch [Its the Star Wars Headquarters, all the branches have offices there.]
“Several times at Skywalker ranch, George was sitting almost within arm’s reach, but I never got to speak with him. […] His objection to Anakin Solo being the main series protagonist was, I think, possible confusion with Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogy of movies.”
~ James Luceno, EU Author
……………………
“They’re there to be enjoyed as unofficial Legends. But, as Zahn also points out, the Expanded Universe wasn’t really ever official regardless of what the fans thought.”
~ Timothy Zahn, 2017
—
“Those of us writing the EU were always told, all along, from the very beginning (have I stressed that strongly enough?), “Only the Movies are Canon.” Sure, it was disappointing.”
~ Kathy Tyers, EU author [Truce at Bakura, Balance Point] Interview, 2018
http://starwarsinterviews.com/various/authors/kathy-tyers-author/
“It’s not something we can really worry about, so we don’t. Lots of people have been working on lots of SW extrapolations for the last twenty years, in good faith. There were never any promises from George Lucas or Lucasfilm regarding the acceptance of their work into some wider canon.”
~ Peet Janes, Dark Horse Comics Editor, 1998
“Steven Sansweet, an Author of the EU said this at a convention in Australia: “In the canon debate, it is important to notice that LucasFilm and Lucas are different entities. The only canon source of Star Wars are the radio plays, the movie novels and the movies themselves, in Lucas’ mind, nothing else exists, and no authorized LucasFilm novel will restrict his creativity in any way.”
———
“[Steven Sansweet] was asked specifically if any of the characters like Admiral Thrawn and so on would make appearances in AoTC or the movie thereafter, and he responded quite clearly that that all the EU material is ”taking place in a separate universe”. […] there were quite a few nasty mumbles from the audience when he (Sansweet) said what he said.”
Steven Sansweet, EU Author – Director of Content Management and head of Fan Relations at Lucasfilm
…….
Dark Empire Introduction – Kevin J. Anderson –
https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/2tg9rk/excerpt_from_kevin_jandersons_intro_to_the_dark/
“When you read Dark Empire, or any of the other novels [EU] remember that although Lucasfilm has approved them, these are our sequels, not George Lucas’s.”
“If Lucasfilm ever makes films that take place after Return of the Jedi, they will be George Lucas’s own creations, probably with no connect to anything we have written.”
But in the meantime, enjoy these graphic stories, read the novels of Timothy Zahn, Kathy Tyers, Kenneth Flynt, Dave Wolverton, and myself.[Kevin J. Anderson]”
…….
“That said, I think George has always felt that the comics were an “alternate Star Wars universe” from the films. I don’t think he ever saw the comics as canon — although he did use them as a resource for ideas and images.”
Tom Veitch, EU Author, Dark Empire Trilogy 2016
….
Here’s a TV interview with Howard Roffman, the President of Lucas Licensing who was in charge of the EU the entire time.
This is checkmate right here.
“That was one of my mandates, when I began the spin off publishing program it was a sacrosanct rule that everything had to relate to each other, be consistent with each other and be consistent with the movies ‘which were canon.’
We were pretty religious about doing that, our biggest problem was a guy named George Lucas, because he didn’t buy into the spin off fiction and the game program and all the ‘alternate universe’ we were creating.“
We wanted it to be one universe, we felt strongly that that’s what it needed to be, but George as the filmmaker didn’t want to be beholden to somebody else’s creative vision.
So we would have very interesting skirmishes because we had a bunch of stuff that became, for the fans, pretty much canon [head-canon] about what happened after Return of the Jedi, what different places in the galaxy were called, lots of different things and if he was proposing to do something in the prequels that contradicted that we would have long debates which usually ended at least after the first session with “I don’t care this is what I’m doing” , and maybe after the 4th or 5th session sometimes “Alright ‘maybe’ we can change it this way”
Now that everything is controlled by one central committee [Lucasfilm Story Group] we can have canon that applies to everything.
Messing with a Classic — Howard Roffman, Lucasfilm, 2017 interview. –
[12:40 mark]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMKHgwH-gY4