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Star WarsSTAR WARS: Prequels & Sequels
THE TRILOGY: EPISODES IV, V, VI • THE PREQUELS: EPISODES I, II, III
THE SEQUELS: EPISODES VII, VIII, IX • THE STORIES: ROGUE ONE, SOLOINTERVIEWSGALLERIES
christensen as anakin in episode 3 Lucasfilm on the big screen...

SPOILER ALERT: You have been warned.
The original Star Wars trilogy is episodes IV, V and VI of a nine-part series, which creator George Lucas calls The Journal of the Whills, perhaps a reference to those pesky Midichlorians. Lucas took his time making the first two trilogies - working for three years on each film. As Samuel L Jackson says, "Filming Star Wars is weird s**t." Once Lucas sold the franchise to Disney, JJ Abrams produced the final trilogy at two-year intervals, clearly with increasing meddling from Disney bosses who eliminated original thinking after Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, unceremoniously sacking directors who tried anything inventive. While enjoyable, Solo and The Rise of Skywalker are paint-by-numbers movies, so it's no surprise that box office revenue dipped.

A TRILOGY OF TRILOGIES. From the very start, Lucas claimed that episodes IV, V and VI were the central part in a grand nine-part Skywalker epic. For the final trilogy, JJ Abrams apparently discarded Lucas' original story outline, doing his own thing instead.

STAND-ALONE FILMS. There was a stand-alone animated Clone Wars movie (set between II and III) in 2008, which led into the TV series. Then when Disney took over Lucasfilm, they announced that they would make a series of Star Wars stories. Rogue One is set between episodes III and IV, while Ron Howard's Solo is a pre-IV Han Solo origin story. Further films are planned, but nothing specific has been announced as Disney's attention has turned to making TV series like The Mandalorian and a planned Obi-Wan series with Ewan McGregor.

back to the topT H E    S A G A    C A S T
Characters who appear in multiple films...

CHARACTERIIIIIIR1SOLOIVVVIVIIVIIIIX
C-3PO: Anthony Daniels
R2-D2: Kenny Baker, Jimmy Vee
Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader: Jake Lloyd, Hayden Christensen, James Earl Jones, David Prowse, Sebastian Shaw
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Ewan McGregor, Alec Guinness
Yoda: Frank Oz
Palpatine: Ian McDiarmid
Padme Amidala: Natalie Portman
Mace Windu: Samuel L Jackson
Count Dooku: Christopher Lee
Bail Organa: Jimmy Smits
Owen Lars: Joel Edgerton, Phil Brown
Beru Lars: Bonnie Piesse, Shelagh Fraser
Moff Tarkin: Peter Cushing
Chewbacca: Peter Mayhew, Joonas Suotamo
Han Solo: Alden Ehrenreich, Harrison Ford
Luke Skywalker: Mark Hamill
Leia Organa: Carrie Fisher
Lando Calrissian: Donald Glover, Billy Dee Williams
Boba Fett: Jeremy Bulloch
Rey: Daisy Ridley
Finn: John Boyega
Ben Solo/Kylo Ren: Adam Driver
Poe Dameron: Oscar Isaac
Maz Kanata: Lupita Nyong'o
General Hux: Domhnall Gleeson
Captain Phasma: Gwendoline Christie
Snoke: Andy Serkis
Rose Tico: Kelly Marie Tran

back to the topP R O D U C T I O N   T R I V I A . . .

lucas on set in 1976 TIME SCALE: Episode I takes place about 30 years before the original Star Wars, when Obi-Wan is 30, Anakin 10, and Amidala 14. Episode II is about 10 years later; and III is about two years after that. Roughly 20 years passes between III and IV. And another 30 years passes between VI and VII.

CONTINUITY: Lucas worked to create an over-arching plot for the series, even if character arcs and plot twists will shift for audiences who experience the films in sequence I to IX for the first time. The surprises for them will be different than for those of us who watched them in the order they were made. For example, the relationships between Vader, Luke and Leia will be no surprise. But Anakin's fall will. And Obi-Wan now has a completely different story that redefines his actions in IV. Also, Palpatine becomes the connecting point as a seriously epic villain over all nine films.

LOCATIONS: While Tunisia played Tatooine in episodes I, II and IV, political instability meant that JJ Abrams had to find another stand-in while shooting Episode VII. The desert around Abu Dhabi did the trick, while IX was shot in Jordan. (California's Death Valley has also doubled as Tatooine.) Other locations: Italy, Spain and England became Naboo; Thailand and China appeared as Kashyyyk; Norway played Hoth; Switzerland was Alderaan; and California's Redwood Forest was Endor.

Ewan McGregor's uncle Denis Lawson played Wedge Antilles in IV to VI. Wedge is the only X-wing pilot besides Luke to survive the trilogy (thus the IX cameo). After Lawson visited McGregor on the set of Episode I, McGregor said, "He came up and sat with me, and he met George Lucas and he said, 'George, you're still wearing the same shirt.' And he was, apparently!"

dynamic duo C-3PO and R2-D2 are the only characters who appear in all nine Skywalker saga films, the droids through whose eyes the entire tale is told. Chewbacca is in seven films (eight including Solo). Yoda is in six, as are two characters played by multiple actors: Obi-Wan (McGregor I-III, Guinness IV-VI) and Anakin (Lloyd I, Christensen II-III, Prowse IV-VI, Shaw VI). Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher are in six films. And then there's Palpatine...

Ian McDiarmid played the Emperor at age 100 in V and VI, and stars in the prequels as the younger Palpatine, closer to McDiarmid's actual age (53 when he shot the prequels). "I am 30 years younger in the new version so I'll be more recognisable. Anyway, I think they only cast me because of my long pointed nose. I have played a lot of grotesques because I suppose I look like one." And he's back again as a cloned monster Palpatine for IX, his sixth appearance in the saga.

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© 2020 by Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

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