The original plan for Disney's first Star Wars trilogy was to base it off of George Lucas' plans for the next set of films, but we've never actually known what that story would have been, until now. In a new book, Lucas has revealed what his initial plan for Episodes VII-IX would have been. Rather than focus on the next generation of epic conflict between the light side and dark side of the Force, the movies would have been about something much smaller. Specifically, the microorganisms that form the foundation of the universe. According to Lucas...
[The next three Star Wars films] were going to get into the microbiotic world. But there's this world of creatures that operate differently than we do. I call them the Whills. And the Whills are the ones that actually control the universe. They feed off the Force.
Clearly, the current Star Wars trilogy has done something quite unlike what George Lucas was thinking as there has been no discussion of the microbiotic world of the galaxy far, far away. The quotes from the new book James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction (via Livio Ramondelli on Twitter) don't explain how the Whills would have fit into the larger story. Certainly, the existence of the Whills would have been important to the characters of the trilogy, be they Luke, Leia, and Han Solo, or another generation of characters. It's also not clear if the new trilogy would have told the story of the discovery of the Whills or if they were supposed to have been known of previously, but just never came up.
Certainly, the concept of the Whills harkens back to the idea of midi-chlorians, the microscopic organisms that, according to the prequel trilogy, are responsible for life and speak to the Jedi, making them aware of the will of the Force. If the midi-chlorians were responsible for allowing the use of the Force, then the Whills sound like a balancing element that consumes the Force. Much like the midi-chlorians, which many Star Wars fans have taken issue with over the years, George Lucas is well aware that much of the fanbase would have had a problem with his idea, though it sounds like, under other circumstances, he might have made these movies anyway, just to get his story out there.
If I'd held onto the company I could have done it, and then it would have been done. Of course, a lot of the fans would have hated it, just like they did Phantom Menace and everything, but at least the whole story from beginning to end would be told.
Of course, we'll never know how the fans would have reacted as we'll never actually get this version of the trilogy. What do you think? Does George Lucas' trilogy sound like a better idea than the trilogy we're getting or are you happy with the story we have so far? Let us know in the poll below.
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