It turns out, all our teachers were wrong.
The correct way to count is 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 well, at least from a certain point
of view.
Star Wars is known today as a cultural phenomenon, but it wasn't always seen that way.
The original film, A New Hope, was released back in 1977 with little hope of success by
even its creator, George Lucas.
According to Screen Prism, Lucas was so sure of its failure that when it was released in
cinemas, he was hiding out in Hawaii on vacation.
But Lucas must have had some belief that the movie could be a hit, because buried deep
in his mind was a plan to turn what looked like a standalone film into a series of movies.
And then, something incredible happened.
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
A New Hope then simply titled Star Wars defied the odds and became a mega hit of galactic
proportions.
A New Hope was followed by The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, and Return of the Jedi came
after in 1983 to complete the original Star Wars trilogy.
Then, in 1999, a fourth Star Wars film was released.
Only, it wasn't a fourth film it was to be the first one on the Star Wars timeline.
The Phantom Menace is in fact episode 1.
It was succeeded by episode 2, Attack of the Clones, in 2002, and episode 3, Revenge of
the Sith, in 2005, to comprise a Star Wars prequel trilogy.
More films were released from 2015 to 2019 The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The
Rise of Skywalker which were sequels to the original three Star Wars films.
But why create them in this order?
Why not make the first Star Wars trilogy prequels, then create two separate sequel collections?
The answer is a lot simpler than its accompanying questions suggest.
Author Michael Kaminski writes in The Secret History of Star Wars that Lucas decided to
start with the fourth episode quote, "due to technical and storytelling reasons."
He further explained:
"Lucas had a massive, expensive epic on his hands, and divided the story into three separate
films.
He had also developed a backstory for his elaborate tale, which together totaled six
chapters, and sought to make Episode IV first, due to technical and storytelling reasons.
When the film by some miracle went into production, it was beset by problems of all kinds, and
Lucas was sure it would be a failure and was shocked when it became the biggest sensation
of the year."
Lucas himself has corroborated this claim.
He admitted:
"The Star Wars series started out as a movie that ended up being so big that I took each
act and cut it into its own movie [...] When I first did Star Wars, I did it as a big piece.
It was like a big script.
It was way too big to make into a movie.
So I took the first third of it, which is basically the first act, and I turned that
into what was the original Star Wars."
The story of A New Hope gave no context of the world in the film, throwing viewers straight
into the action without any background knowledge.
Doing so would later give Lucas the opportunity to go back and provide some context in the
prequels.
From the release of the first Star Wars film, there was talk that Lucas had three trilogies
in mind one of which would be a prequel trilogy that would deal with the political background
needed for the Empire to become what it was in the original movie.
Lucas always knew he wanted to create an entire galaxy far, far away not just a standalone
film.
There's plenty of evidence of that in A New Hope, with references to the Clone Wars, the
Jedi Order, and the Kessel Run hinting at an untold history.
It took a number of different drafts of the first Star Wars film before the story of Luke
Skywalker, a poor farm boy from Tattoine who discovers he has Jedi powers and joins a band
of rebels against an evil dictatorship in the form of the Empire, took shape leaving
other characters by the wayside to have their stories told later.
Lucas kept them in the bank, and put some of his ideas into the film in passing mention
to give that backstory.
Mace Windy — who became Mace Windu in the final story — and Annikin Starkiller,
later Anakin Skywalker, are among the characters who were initially meant to
be in the first film in Lucas' early drafts.
Both appear in the Star Wars prequels, although Anakin was technically part of the original
trilogy given that he eventually transforms into Darth Vader.
Lucas had a pretty specific vision in mind for A New Hope: he wanted the film to fade
in with audiences, making it feel like they were coming in halfway through a larger story.
It would pave the way for Lucas to be able to turn the film into a full movie series,
and he already had groundwork laid for the backstory he would need to tell.
"But what about the final trilogy of the Skywalker Saga headlined by the powerful, young Rey?"
you might be wondering.
Though Lucas already had it set in his mind to make episodes 7 through 9 way back when,
he hadn't yet mapped the actual story that would unfold in those three films.
What he did know was that he wanted the original three heroes to make a return, according to
ComicBook.com.
Lucas got his wish on that final point giving them a chance to say their final goodbyes
as the Skywalker saga comes to an end with the release of The Rise of Skywalker on December
20.
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