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Star Wars is George Lucas's baby, even if he doesn't own it anymore. Lucas conceived of the idea that would form the basis of Episode IV: A New Hope in the early 1970s, which he wrote and directed. He then executive-produced the next two films in the original Star Wars trilogy, and returned as a writer on Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Lucas would only get back into the saddle as director more than twenty years after A New Hope came out with Episode I - The Phantom Menace, the beginning of a prequel trilogy that he had full creative control over. The prequels remain a divisive topic for Star Wars fans today because the original Star Wars trilogy set such a high bar for the prequels to measure up to. Regardless, Lucas remained undeterred by the rocky critical reception of his prequel trilogy and was even in the nascent stages of writing his own sequel trilogy before Lucasfilm (and Star Wars) was bought out by Disney in 2012 for over $4 billion. 

In an interview with Flicks And The City after Episode VII: The Force Awakens was announced, Lucas's son, Jett Lucas, revealed how his father was already at work on new Star Wars stories when the Disney deal came through. “We know probably a year prior [to the Disney deal], he had started writing and kind of researching and starting his whole little process, and about halfway through that process is when the idea of selling to Disney came up. And so once those two collided, that’s when he kind of sat down and said, ‘Okay, I’m gonna do this.’ But... he just kind of mentioned it off-handedly like it wasn’t a big deal," said Jett. "I was eating dinner, I wasn’t even with him; he called me, it’s like a normal conversation. I asked how he was doing, and he was like, ‘Oh, I started writing it,’ and I was like, 'Oh, your little whatever you’re focusing on now?' He’s like, ‘No, it’s Star Wars and such,’ and moved on, and I was like, ‘Let’s back up, let's back up a sentence: what are you writing now?’”

Jett Lucas noted that George was "constantly talking with JJ [Abrams," the director of The Force Awakens. "He's there to guide," Jett added, reiterating that George sees Star Wars as his "child" that's ready to go off to college. Was the sequel trilogy better than the prequel trilogy? That's up for you to decide. It's a face-off between "Somehow Palpatine returned" and "I hate sand." 

Get to know, understand, and love the Star Wars franchise more with our Star Wars watch order, guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies & TV shows, and all the Star Wars movies and Star Wars TV shows ranked.