A lot of people wonder what George Lucas thought about the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Since none of us here actually know George Lucas or have sat with him to ask what he personally thinks (okay maybe someone out there reading this does know him), we can only go off what he has said in interviews, and what those who actually have worked with him and knew him have said. Hopefully, after reading this, you'll have a better understanding of what George Lucas thought about the Expanded Universe and what the company Lucasfilm considered canon.
Before we dive into George's thoughts, it's important we understand how the company Lucasfilm (before Disney owned them) viewed canon. It's also important to note that George Lucas the person and Lucasfilm the company had two different views on what was canon.
Before the canon reset after Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm, the company followed a canon ranking system featuring five levels of canon. The levels in order of importance were G, T, C, S, and N.
G-canon (George Lucas Canon):
This was the highest level of canon and consisted of the six Star Wars Episodes created by George, in their most recent editions (yes this means the Special Edition versions are the canon versions), and information originating from George Lucas that was included in movie novelizations and reference books. If any below level of canon contradicts G-canon it becomes N-Canon.
T-canon (Television Canon):
The second highest level of canon. T-canon consisted of the movie Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the television series that followed also named Star Wars: The Clone Wars. If any lower level of canon contradicts T-canon it becomes N-canon.
C-canon (Continuity Canon):
The third highest level of canon. T-canon includes the Star Wars novels, comic books, video games, resource guides, and Star Wars: Clone Wars. If something that is C-canon appears in something that is G-canon or T-canon it becomes that level of canon. For example Aayla Secura was C-canon until she appeared in Episode II and became G-canon. If any lower level of canon contradicts C-canon it becomes S-canon or N-canon. C-canon makes up what we fans would call the Expanded Universe.
S-canon (Secondary Canon):
The second lowest level of canon. S-canon material are stories that can be ignored at any author's discretion. This level includes mostly older works created before there was an effort to maintain a consistent continuity. Stories like the original Marvel Star Wars comic series and The Holiday Special were S-canon. If material from S-canon is used in any above level of canon it becomes that canon level.
N-canon (Non Canon): The lowest level in the ranking system. All N-canon material was considered non-canon. This includes all "what if" stories, anything contradicting any above level of canon, LEGO Star Wars stories, and included deleted scenes unless specified by Lucasfilm.
With Lucasfilm's canon ranking system, they made it clear what was canon and how they viewed the hierarchy of storytelling. This, in my opinion, would be the cause of much confusion among fans for years to come. Because clearly Lucasfilm the company considered the Expanded Universe a part of canon, even if it was a lower level, so that had to mean the creator George Lucas felt the same way, right? Right?! Not so fast, my young Padawans and acolytes.
Turn the clock back to 1993 and West End Games (WEG) made it clear that their Star Wars stories told after Return of the Jedi shouldn't be taken as what actually happened. WEG published this quote on the subject.
"This and all other products that take place after the events depicted in Return of the Jedi are the author's vision of what may have happened. The true fate of the heroes and villains of the Star Wars universe remains the exclusive province of George Lucas and Lucasfilm, Ltd."
In 1994, the official Star Wars Insider Magazine issue 23 released a statement written by Lucas Licensing (LL) employee Allan Kausch and LL Publishing editor Sue Rostoni.
"'Gospel', or canon as we refer to it, includes the screenplays, the films, the radio dramas and the novelisations. These works spin out of George Lucas' original stories, the rest are written by other writers. However, between us, we've read everything, and much of it is taken into account in the overall continuity. The entire catalog of published works comprises a vast history -- with many off-shoots, variations and tangents -- like any other well-developed mythology."
Now, let's go to George Lucas. In 1994, he wrote a preface to the reprint of 1978's novel Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye.
George says:
"It wasn't long after I began writing Star Wars that I realized the story was more than a single film could hold. As the saga of the Skywalkers and Jedi Knights unfolded, I began to see it as a tale that could take at last nine films to tell- three trilogies- and I realized, in making my way through the back story and after story, that I was really setting out to write the middle story.
After Star Wars was released, it became apparent that my story- however many films it took to tell- was only one of thousands that could be told about the characters who inhabit its galaxy. But these were not stories that I was destined to tell. Instead they would spring from the imagination of other writers, inspired by the glimpse of a galaxy that Star Wars provided. Today it is an amazing, if unexpected, legacy of Star Wars that so many gifted writers are contributing new stories to the Saga. This legacy began with Splinter of the Mind's Eye, published less than a year after the release of Star Wars. Written by Alan Dean Foster, a well known and talented science-fiction author, Splinter was promoted as ”further adventure” of Luke Skywalker. It hit bookstores just as I was preparing to write my own ”further adventure” of Luke, in the form of a script called The Empire Strikes Back.
It seems only fitting, after all these years, that Splinter would be republished as I prepare once again to write another further adventure set a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."
Now back to Lucasfilm as a company. In 1998, Lucas Licensing Specialty Marketing member Steve Sansweet wrote in his preface to the Star Wars Encyclopedia:
"Which brings us to the often-asked question: Just what is Star Wars canon, and what is not? The one sure answer: The Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition -- the three films themselves as executive-produced, and in the case of Star Wars written and directed, by George Lucas, are canon. Coming in a close second we have the authorised adaptations of the three films: the novels, radio dramas, and comics. After that, almost everything falls into a category of ”quasi-canon.”"
We jump to the year 2001 with Star Wars Gamer 6, Lucas Licensing's Sue Rostoni makes it clear that the Star Wars Expanded Universe was there to continue Star Wars storytelling as long as it didn't conflict or undermine anything that George Lucas did.
"Canon refers to an authoritative list of books that the Lucas Licensing editors consider an authentic part of the official Star Wars history. Our goal is to present a continuous and unified history of the Star Wars galaxy, insofar as that history does not conflict with, or undermine the meaning of Mr. Lucas's Star Wars saga of films and screenplays."
In 2004, on the Star Wars forum found on the official website, Sue Rostoni again makes a statement regarding George Lucas and the Expanded Universe. In this quote she talks about George's involvement, which is barely, if any. He, of course, will read general concepts but nothing more.
"In general, George doesn't see the overall story ideas or concepts. If there is a sensitive area, or if we are developing backstory for a character he's created or mentioned in an interview, we can query him to get more information, his approval, or whatever. And yes, we always query him if we're doing something drastic to a film character. I believe he does read the concepts for the games though."
In a roundtable discussion on the Vector Prime ebook, Lucy Autrey Wilson (director of publishing) also talked about George's involvement and how it was only through q&a memos.
"When we first started doing original Star Wars publishing, the editorial group consisted of me, Sue Rostoni, and later Allan Kausch, who was originally hired as a continuity consultant. Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing, was also creatively involved, and we would get input from George Lucas through a series of Q&A memos in which we asked for guidance on big plot points and ideas."
Renowned Expanded Universe author Timothy Zahn would comment on George's involvement in the Expanded Universe.
In a November 1997 interview for The Book Report, Zahn would say,
"As far as I know, George Lucas himself is not involved. He has a liaison group that deals with the book people, the game people, etc. They do the day-to-day work. Occasionally, he will be asked a question and will give an answer."
When asked if George Lucas had maybe read the books, Timothy Zahn would also respond.
"As far as I know, he has not read any of the novels."
Shelly Shapiro, from Del Rey publishing, would comment on George's involvement in the Expanded Universe saying:
"I would characterize his role as limited but important. He’s the one who said the alien invaders could not be dark side Force-users, that we couldn’t kill Luke, that we had to kill Anakin instead of Jacen (we had originally planned it the other way around). Other than that, he occasionally answered some basic questions for us, but that was rare. Mostly he leaves the books to his licensing people, trusting them to get it right."
Before the release of Star Wars Episode II, fans got the chance to ask Lucas Licensing's Steve Sansweet a question regarding if George Lucas will follow the backstory of Boba Fett given in the Expanded Universe. Steve's answer is the obvious one.
"Highly unlikely."
"My advice: Forget everything you knew, or thought you knew about the origins of Boba Fett. While none of us have seen a script of Episode II or have an idea of the direction in which George Lucas is taking the character, it's fairly safe to say that he won't be held to any of the back stories that have arisen over the years to try to explain the roots of this strong, mostly silent type. If there is any hint of Fett's beginnings, it will be all George."
"As many fans know, when it comes to Star Wars knowledge, there are degrees of ”canon.” The only true canon are the films themselves. For years, Lucas Books has stayed clear of characters, events, or the timeframe that George might want to deal with in the Star Wars prequels. While such things as the Clone Wars, the fall of the Jedi, and Palpatine's rise to power were on that list, Boba Fett wasn't considered to be of major concern."
"But like any great storyteller, George starts to develop a script and it sometimes takes on a life of its own, with characters coming to life and demanding a say. He has told us that Boba Fett will have a role in Episode II--just as Fett first appeared in the second film of the classic trilogy--so we may finally learn the bounty hunter's true genesis."
Now let's return to the good stuff. George Lucas has made several comments over the years about the Expanded Universe so let's see what he actually thinks. In a 2001 TV Guide interview this interaction transpired.
"TV GUIDE: Yet novelists have written "Star Wars" sequels using the same characters and extending their stories.
GEORGE LUCAS: Oh, sure. They're done outside my little universe. "Star Wars" has had a lot of different lives that have been worked on by a lot of different people. It works without me."
In July 2002, as reported on the Cinescape site from the Cinescape Magazine, George Lucas is quoted as saying,
“There are two worlds here. There’s my world, which is the movies, and there’s this other world that has been created, which I say is the parallel universe – the licensing world of the books, games and comic books. They don’t intrude on my world, which is a select period of time, [but] they do intrude in between the movies. I don’t get too involved in the parallel universe."
In August of 2005 for the "New Hopes" interview in Starlog 337, this interaction was logged.
"STARLOG: The Star Wars Universe is so large and diverse. Do you ever find yourself confused by the subsidiary material that's in the novels, comics, and other offshoots?
LUCAS: I don't read that stuff. I haven't read any of the novels. I don't know anything about that world. That's a different world than my world. But I do try to keep it consistent. The way I do it now is they have a Star Wars Encyclopedia. So if I come up with a name or something else, I look it up and see if it has already been used. When I said [other people] could make their own Star Wars stories, we decided that, like Star Trek, we would have two universes: My universe and then this other one. They try to make their universe as consistent with mine as possible, but obviously they get enthusiastic and want to go off in other directions."
In Pablo Hidalgo's Episode III set journals from August 2003 (as reported by Wayne Poe), George was asked how Anakin got his scar above his eye and George mused with:
"I don't know. Ask Howard. That's one of those things that happens in the novels between the movies. I just put it there. He has to explain how it got there. I think Anakin got it slipping in the bathtub, but of course, he's not going to tell anybody that.”
Now, I'm not a mind reader. I have never spoken with George Lucas or been in a room with him, but I believe it is quite clear that he did not consider the Expanded Universe stories to be a part of his Star Wars. However, his company very much did.
Fast forward to the present time, and George Lucas is no longer in charge of Star Wars, as he has sold the company to Disney. After this happened, Lucasfilm did away with the canon ranking system. We now just have one canon made from George Lucas' six Star Wars Episodes, George Lucas' Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the new television series, the new novels, the new comic books, the new video games, and other new tie-in media all on the same level of canon. The old Expanded Universe has been rebranded as the Legends brand and we fans still argue online about whether George Lucas cared about the stories not written by him. The cycle continues....
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