Another rumor: Episode VII more than 50 years after Return of the Jedi?

Well, this one will give some hope to the continuity-obsessed EU fans. Amid quite a bit of speculation, Nerdvana’s Dustin Diehl has a ‘Lucasfilm connection’ that claims Episode 7 will start “further out” than 50 years after the last film installment. They also told Diehl that a “a writer and director have already been selected.”

Diehl has quite a bit more faith than I that Disney and Lucasfilm will take the existing Expanded Universe – “equal parts respect and disinterest,” while I see only the second. Still, speculation is speculation, particularly at this point!

12 Replies to “Another rumor: Episode VII more than 50 years after Return of the Jedi?”

  1. This would be ideal, but we’ll see what happens. Even if they do that there will still be issues I’m sure. Throughout the prequels and Clone Wars we’ve seen them cherry picking parts of the EU to adopt and ignore, I don’t see why these new movies would be any different. If there’s something they like they’ll use it, but the aren’t going to feel beholden to make it all work flawlessly.

  2. Exactly, Brian. I don’t think they’ll totally discount the EU, but I don’t think they’re going to take it whole cloth and work the movies around it.

  3. I don’t think there is anything currently sitting at the 50+ range right now is there?? At least not until the 100+ Legacy series. I guess that doesn’t mean they won’t ignore the stuff that is already written though :(

    Personally I would love to see Vector Prime on the big screen.

  4. This is actually what I assumed. If you believe the rumors it is about Luke being the Obi-Wan type character then he would need to be up there in age. He is 19 in ANH so adding 50 years would pace him at ~70.

    Even if they do this though they could still completely wipe out the previous continuity by giving him an older daughter or something similar.

  5. The more info that comes out the more it’s clear that the powers at be have known for a bit now that they were heading towards Ep 7 and onwards. So, it makes me wonder if the books on the horizon were written to be in keeping with this notion.

    They say Denning’s Crucible will be a “Big Three” story. I had to look back at TFN to refresh my memory, but the early notes for Crucible were that the book “set the stage for the next Star Wars series.” Hmm.

  6. What have to remember is Lucas is a master at misdirection. Ep. 1 came out of nowhere, remember….thet had preproduction all set by the time we heard about it. Most of the casting had been done already, the full story line had been fleshed out….and were talking 2 years to due date.
    Theyre ready to start shooting, and they knew we would find out so they went ahead and announced it. Think about it…..2 years means shooting is probably under way, or almost done. With the Prequels, they needed a yr and half for post production…..

    1. LFL first talked about more movies in 1990. I remember first hearing about Episode I on Entertainment Tonight in 1993. Lucas started writing it in ’94. TPM started filming in June ’97, and there was absolutely casting news before that – Hell, I can tell you that by remembering Ewan’s haircut alone. I’m sure there’s lots of pre-production work that can be done before things go public, but shooting? In this day and age?

      Yes, the timeline is short. Things may happen faster and we’ll start getting announcements sooner than last time, certainly. Kathleen Kennedy said they’re working with writers already, and they might very well have a director or be close to a deal with one. Certainly there are secrets and NDAs galore, but let’s not go nuts.

  7. Well if you look at the Ep 7 it looks like it will take place right after the book series “fate of the Jedi” maybe the love life and turning to the good between Ben Skywalker and Vestara Khai of the “Lost Tribe of the Sith” which would lead into the comic books of Cade Skywalker

  8. Amanda Jade – I’ve made the same observations… Particularly “the stage for the next Star Wars series” caught my interest – and that was even before they released the big news. I think EU’s written to fit in now – and has been so for a while. I actually had that feeling since Ascension. It will be interestng to see what happens…

  9. I always figured that the “set the stage for the next Star Wars series” thing meant set the stage for the three book Sword of the Jedi series.

  10. I prefer that this new films are set about 20-30 years after VI…the classic characters still can show up. 50 years is a huge distance for that, I think.

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