The modern obsession with cinematic universes is often attributed to Harry Potter and the MCU, but the idea was actually born decades earlier with Star Wars. George Lucas’ seminal sci-fi epic series began with Luke Skywalker’s quest to defeat the evil Sith empire in a galaxy far, far away.
The original trilogy ended with a satisfying conclusion, and the franchise grew beyond films to include television, gaming, novels, and theme parks.
Why Star Wars Should’ve Stayed a Trilogy
However, some argue that Star Wars would have been better off stopping after the original trilogy. The trilogy ended with Darth Vader finding redemption and the heroes celebrating their victory. It was a happy and satisfying conclusion to the series, and the original trilogy is considered one of Hollywood’s best.
Despite this, Star Wars continued to expand beyond the original trilogy. The prequel trilogy made a lot of money, but critics noticed flaws in Lucas’ ability to write compelling dialogue and believable character arcs. As the franchise grew, character motivations and conclusions became unconvincing and unsatisfying, and some events directly contradicted the original trilogy.
Disney acquired the franchise in 2012 and released new live-action movies, but they revealed that the original trilogy’s ending was not as happy as fans assumed. The franchise had become a stretched-out tale of fallen heroes and villains who refused to stay dead. However, the franchise continued to make a lot of money, showing that emotional attachment to a franchise can lead to continued success despite bad reviews and a decline in quality.
If Star Wars had ended after the original trilogy, Hollywood may have focused on creating the next big thing instead of redoing Star Wars every few years. New possibilities within the genre could have been explored with fresh voices and new talent. Modern blockbusters could have continued to be about auteur filmmakers crafting new visions for the audience, instead of an assembly line of studio-produced movies within the same cinematic universe sticking rigidly to a common formula.
In conclusion, Star Wars may have set a bad example for Hollywood, leading to creative stagnation instead of exploring new ideas. If George Lucas had decided to bring the curtain down on the tale of Luke Skywalker and his friends after the original trilogy, Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking may have been in a more honest and creative place.
People tend to see Harry Potter and the MCU as the franchises that kick-started the modern studio obsession with cinematic universes. But the blueprint for the idea was born decades earlier with George Lucas’ seminal sci-fi epic series Star Wars. The first three films in the series dealt with Luke Skywalker’s quest to take down the evil Sith empire in a galaxy far, far away.
After the events of the original trilogy, the world of Star Wars was expanded in every direction. Starting with a prequel trilogy, the franchise grew across television, gaming, novels, and theme parks to tell multi-decade-spanning stories within the Star Wars universe. Let us take a look at why the franchise would have been better off stopping after the original trilogy.
Star Wars Already Had the Perfect Ending
When George Lucas started out making the Star Wars movies, he had pretty modest goals. He wanted to make a sci-fi epic geared specifically toward children. That is why Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) featured colorful characters, clear-cut divisions between good and evil, and a simple earnestness to the storyline.
The original trilogy ends with the main villain Darth Vader finding a certain degree of redemption for his misdeeds, and the heroes celebrating their victory after striking a definitive blow against the Sith empire. It is a happy, satisfying conclusion to the main narrative of the series, and the original trilogy is rightfully considered one of the best trilogies Hollywood has ever produced.
A Cinematic Dream Becomes a Money Factory
George Lucas might have brought his original Star Wars trilogy to a triumphant conclusion, but it was soon clear that fans had no intention of saying goodbye to the world Lucas had created. Star Wars had grown beyond a film trilogy to become a pop-cultural phenomenon, unlike anything in the history of Hollywood. In the face of such overwhelming popularity, Lucas announced a prequel trilogy to his work.
The new Star Wars films told the story of how good guy Anakin Skywalker transformed into bad guy Darth Vader. The new trilogy made a lot of money, but the cracks were already starting to show in the burgeoning Star Wars cinematic universe. Critics were beginning to notice that while Lucas was a canny visual filmmaker, his ability to write compelling dialogs or craft believable character arcs was none too great.
As such, the more Lucas tried to grow the world of Star Wars beyond Luke Skywalker, the more unwieldy the whole thing became. Character motivations and conclusions became unconvincing and unsatisfying, and some of the events of the prequel trilogy directly contradicted the original trilogyretroactively tarnishing the legacy of one of the greatest film trilogies ever made.
More Isn’t Always Better
After the mixed reception to the prequel trilogy, Star Wars fans might have been content to let things be for a while, while still being able to take pleasure in the original trilogy and its spinoff games, cartoons, and merchandising. But Hollywood had other ideas. In 2012, Disney managed to acquire the Star Wars franchise from George Lucas, and the Mouse Empire immediately put Lucas’ creations to work on the cinematic front.
A bunch of new Star Wars live-action movies were soon released, depicting the events after the partial defeat of the Sith empire at the hands of Luke Skywalker and the other rebels. A new batch of characters took center stage. But in doing so, they inadvertently revealed that the ending to the original trilogy had not been as happy as fans had assumed.
Han Solo and Leia had a son who turned to the dark side. The Sith Empire continued terrorizing the galaxy. And the legendary hero Luke Skywalker turned into a bitter and disillusioned hermit who had given up on trying to bring balance to the force. What had started out as a simple story of good winning over evil had been spun out by the Hollywood machinery into a stretched-out tale of fallen heroes and villains who refused to stay dead.
Setting a Bad Example
Despite fans being quite vocal about all the issues they have with the new Star Wars movies and their storylines, the franchise has continued to make a lot of money. The lesson Hollywood learned from this phenomenon is that as long as the audience feels an emotional attachment to a franchise, they will continue to spend money on it even in the face of bad reviews and a decline in quality.
This lesson has been applied to pretty much every modern cinematic universe. The Fantastic Beasts films were still going full steam ahead despite a poor reception until the controversies regarding J.K. Rowling, Johnny Depp, and Ezra Miller forced the studio to (presumably) hit pause. The MCU in its fourth phase is generally seen as a messy and confusing place, but audiences still continue to flock to the theaters in big numbers.
Star Wars proved that if your initial formula is a hit, you can keep churning out movies even if you have nothing new to say, or if the new thing directly contradicts what had come before. It’s a kind of creative stagnation that actively pulls the film industry back from exploring new ideas, but studios don’t care as long as the audience continues to fork over the cash.
What Could Have Been
Imagine a world where there were no more Star Wars movies after the original trilogy. The sci-fi genre would have gotten an era-defining classic set of films that would have continued to inspire filmmakers and audiences for decades. George Lucas could have gone on to create other passion projects and expanded his filmography beyond a galaxy far, far away. Most importantly, Hollywood studios would have focussed on creating the next big thing after Star Wars instead of redoing it every few years, setting a positive trend for the future.
New possibilities within the genre could have been explored with the help of fresh voices and new talent. Modern blockbusters would have continued to be about auteur filmmakers like Lucas, Ridley Scott, and Steven Spielberg crafting new visions for the audience, instead of an assembly line of studio-produced movies set within the same cinematic universe sticking rigidly to a common formula. It might seem unfair to lay the blame for the state of modern blockbusters entirely at the feet of Star Warsbut considering its importance in its field, one can’t help but feel that Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking would have been in a more honest and creative place if George Lucas had decided to bring the curtain down on the tale of Luke Skywalker and his friends right after the original trilogy.
