The Star Wars films are, to many, some of the greatest films ever made. Whether it's the original trilogy that first began in 1977 and introduced us to Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Darth Vader, or the recent prequel trilogy that told the backstory of the first and showed Anakin Skywalker's fall from grace to become Darth Vader, they continue to impress audiences and play on classic mythology. The release of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was tagged with the line “The Saga is Now Complete”, meaning that the story is over as far as the movies are concerned. But the question on the minds and mouths of many remains: Will there be a sequel trilogy that would continue the adventures of the cast and introduce fans to a new generation of Skywalkers?
WHY MAKE A SEQUEL TRILOGY?
That's the question, isn't it? What would be a good enough reason for George Lucas, the mastermind behind these films, to go back into this universe and into the future of it with Episodes VII, VIII, and IX?
For one thing, there's the whole numbers idea behind the whole thing. You would essentially have a trilogy of trilogies that would tell this story. A new trilogy would round it out, so to speak, and when looking at the total number of films, it would make it seem more balanced. Lucas even once said back in 1979 that he had, after the success of the first Star Wars (AKA Episode IV: A New Hope), plans for a total of nine (and at one point, twelve) films that would tell and complete his masterpiece.
Another reason would be in that it would continue to tell the story of the Skywalker clan. As a whole, the six Star Wars films tell the tale of the Skywalker clan, each half focusing on a different generation. The prequel films focus on Anakin, the first generation, and how he became Darth Vader and helped give rise to the Empire. The original trilogy tells Luke's story and his becoming a Jedi, and at the same time learning the truth of his family, with Vader being his father and Princess Leia turning out to be his twin sister, and attempting to redeem his father. A new trilogy could focus on a third generation of Skywalkers from Luke and Leia (and their respective loved ones, of course) and their training in the ways of the Force, one of them perhaps even being tempted towards the dark side. And since Lucas has said that Episodes I through VI tell the story of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, the sequel films could still work that in, in how Anakin's legacy still looms over his children and grandchildren.
THE NET RUMORS
Naturally, when fans start to speculate on certain things, you get rumors. And rumors get on the internet, via message boards, forums and fan sites. And there are no shortage of rumors regarding a new batch of Star Wars films. Sites such as Supershadow.com provide alleged plot summaries for a sequel trilogy, describing in great detail what would happen and who would star in it. The good news is that the stories seem similar to one another. The bad news is that sometimes fans have a hard time knowing for sure whether or not what they're reading is legit. Especially different plot threads and character names are used, depending on which site you're clicked on.
The most common idea for the sequel trilogy involves a group of Dark Jedi who have patterned themselves after Darth Vader, even wearing modified versions of his mask and armor. After attacking Cloud City, now a Jedi training facility, and stealing several information devices known as holocrons, they also produce clones of both Anakin and Luke Skywalker to use against the New Republic. Set 30 to 40 years after the original trilogy, it lists the return of much of the old cast, with Han and Leia now married with children of their own, and Luke a Jedi Master and married to Mara Jade, a fellow Jedi, with whom he has a son. The major villains of the story are the leader of the Dark Jedi and one of his high ranking members, Spiden, who has a duel with Luke and plots to take over as the new leader of the Dark Jedi.
But while the general plot remain similar, there are the differences, depending on which site you read. Supershadow, for example, has Luke and Mara's son named Ben, who is a Padawan alongside Anakin Solo, Han and Leia's son. The leader of the Dark Jedi is named Shindor, and some plot threads include Luke getting back the hand he lost dueling with Darth Vader reattached and a way to completely destroy the dark side. On the other hand, the site Asteroid-b612.org lists Luke and Mara's son as named Jhon, and another character, Han and Leia's granddaughter, Lana, a member of the Senate, takes the place of Anakin. Plot threads include negotiations with a race called the Raverons, who aid the New Republic in battling the Dark Jedi.
