Legends of Tomorrow came to its mid-year close with a weird left turn, revealing Rip Hunter wasn't dead-zo like we'd assumed, but rather living it up without an accent as a film director in Los Angeles in 1967. (Well, one version of Rip, anyway.) And guess who else was schlepping around Hollywood in the late 1960s? Star Wars creator George Lucas. It might not surprise you that Legends of Tomorrow will bring in a young version of the filmmaker, and his entire legacy will be threatened. Here's how executive producer Marc Guggenheim explained it.
Because of circumstances, the time aberration in Episode 209 is George Lucas quits film school. As a result, he never makes Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark. As a result, Ray, who became an engineer because of Star Wars, and Nate, who became a historian because of Raiders, slowly start to lose their brilliance, because those things that inspired them to become who they are didn't exist.
While its inner plot mechanics keep the character development going, Legends of Tomorrow has fully embraced the annals of history as its sandbox, with Season 2 already bringing in Ulysses S. Grant, Albert Einstein, Al Capone and more. George Lucas will be a welcome addition to the bunch, especially with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story currently tearing up the box office. I can't wait to see how Rip plays into Lucas leaving film school, potentially altering the concept of blockbusters forever! I hope Star Trek is involved.
I particularly love the way the show has already introduced George Lucas's career as a lynch pin for how some of its heroes have come to be who they are. It's certainly possible that Ray would have still figured out his path to engineering, and Nate to history, but things would have been different in many ways even with the same outcome. And it would be killer if Lucas' career fluctuation was influential to other characters as well, like if Martin Stein has a love of old cars because of American Graffiti or if Sara Lance became such a hardcore badass because of Willow. (It could happen.)
I hope that Marc Guggenheim revealing George Lucas' introduction to EW is just the first step, and that the episode will also include other young creators of the era prior to their icon statuses. Such as blockbuster maestro Steven Spielberg or Muppet mastermind Jim Henson. Considering the latter died in 1990, it would be extremely cool to have him pop in. But now I'm just pipe dreaming.
With a take on George Lucas that is hopefully more kind than other fictional takes on the filmmaker, Legends of Tomorrow will return to The CW for more history-tweaking adventures on a new night following The Flash, and you can find it on Tuesday, January 24, at 9:00 p.m. ET. To see when everything else is returning and debuting in the new year, head to our midseason premiere schedule.
