It's been 13 years since George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney for $4 billion. While Star Wars fans have been waiting patiently for the legendary filmmaker to step back behind the camera, Lucas has been busy working on opening a museum.
The project has reportedly cost the 81-year-old at least $1 billion to put together, and The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is now on track to open in Los Angeles next year. As the name suggests, it will showcase narrative art, but much to the disappointment of some, it isn't a movie museum or even a journey through Lucas' storied career.
In fact, while speaking to The Wall Street Journal, he explained why he's eager for it not to become known as "the Star Wars museum."
"It’s one gallery out of 33. And I did it grudgingly," Lucas said. "I didn’t want people to come to the museum and say, 'Where’s the Star Wars?'"
It will house an N-1 Starfighter from 1999's Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, but only one exhibit will be devoted to a Galaxy Far, Far Away (and, more specifically, its vehicle designs).
Addressing the current state of the franchise and how he now views the world he created, Lucas said, "Disney took it over and they gave it their vision. That’s what happens. Of course I’ve moved past it. I mean, I’ve got a life. I’m building a museum. A museum is harder than making movies."
While he has visited the odd set since Disney took charge of Star Wars, he's mostly kept his opinions to himself and, as he suggests, moved on with his life. When the deal was struck, the plan was to use Lucas' outlines for the sequel trilogy, only for the House of Mouse to decide later to start from scratch.
That resulted in divisive movies like The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker, and last year, Lucas seemed to indicate that Disney had got the trilogy wrong.
"I was the one who really knew what Star Wars was...who actually knew this world, because there’s a lot to it," he shared. "The Force, for example, nobody understood the Force. When they started other ones after I sold the company, a lot of the ideas that were in [the original] sort of got lost. But that’s the way it is. You give it up, you give it up."
Fans have expressed unhappiness with how the Star Wars franchise has been handled on Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy's watch, and after 13 years, she's expected to step down within the next year or so. Current Lucasfilm chief creative officer Dave Filoni remains a favourite to replace her, meaning a creative would once again be in charge of this property.