"The first Star Wars movie was one of six original stories I had written in the form of two trilogies.  After the success of Star Wars, I added another trilogy.  So now there are nine stories.  The original two trilogies were concieved of as six films of which the first film was number four."

- George Lucas, 1979

"STAR WARS is really three trilogies, nine films.  The first trilogy covers the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, the middle trilogy the fall of the Empire, and the last trilogy involves the rebuilding of the Republic.  It won't be finished for probably another 20 years."

- George Lucas, 1980

"For the third trilogy, I don't know if I will still be alive when it comes the time to make them."

- George Lucas, 1993

"Star Wars is a saga of Good vs. Evil, divided into nine parts."

- George Lucas, 1994

"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 least 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 make the middle story."

- George Lucas, 1995

"From the outset, I conceived Star Wars as a series of six films, or two trilogies."

- George Lucas, 1995

"The next movies are prequels.  It's the story of Darth Vader.  Episode One is a pretty light movie - it's the introduction and everything goes downhill from there.  The next ones are more about who did what to whom...  Finally, there may be three more movies to conclude the epic some years down the road."

- George Lucas, 1997

"Let's just get past the first three before we worry about the last three."

- George Lucas, 1997

"I never had a story for the sequels, for the last trilogy.  That's not really part of the plan at this point, and I'll be at the age where to do another trilogy would take 10 years.  I'd always envisioned it as six movies.  When you see it in six parts you'll understand that it really ends at part six."

- George Lucas, 1999

"When I wrote the first Star Wars film, I was determined to finish the story, the trilogy.  After that, I was done, I didn't want to do this anymore.  I did have an idea for a prequel and sequels after that, but then I thought I'd be doing this for another hundred years.  That was not going to happen.  So after the first three episodes I was ready for a break.  I had a family and I wanted to do some living.

"I came back to do Episode One because I'd reached a point where I could tell the story I always wanted to tell in a way that I wasn't able to before because of the technology required.  So I thought, this will be fun.  I can tell the story any way I want, as if I were writing a book.  In the other films I was constantly saying I can't do that, it's too expensive, too hard or technically impossible.  I wanted to tell the story of Darth Vader because he'd become such an icon.  And I was driven by being able to move around in his world technically.  It's been enjoyable taking a new medium and pushing it to its limits.

"But there is no way that I'll do Episodes 7-9.  After Episode III, I guarantee that I'll move on."

- George Lucas, 2001
complete interview

"Episode III may not be very successful because it'll be so dark - but at least the whole thing will be finished and it will have been good to me."

- George Lucas, 2001

"Each time I do a trilogy it's ten years out of my life.  I'll finish Episode III and I'll be 60.  And the next 20 years after that I want to spend doing something other than Star Wars.  If at 80 I'm still lively and having a good time and think I can work for another 10 years between 80 and 90, I might consider it.  But don't count on it.  There's nothing written, and it's not like I'm completing something.  I'd have to start from scratch.  The idea of a third trilogy was more of a media thing than it was me."

- George Lucas, 2001

"The rumors were a manifestation of the media, but it would be fun to come up with a new Star Wars trilogy when Harrison is 70 and have everyone as old people."

- George Lucas, 2003

"Just having made it to the end is a relief.  All the pieces are together and I was able to buff up the older ones.  I can put it together in a six-part DVD and be very proud of the way the story gets told."

- George Lucas, 2005

"I've cleaned up the first three to the point where I am happy with them now.  They may not be perfect, but they are as perfect as I can make them.  I'm proud of the second three movies.  People may not like them, but I'm proud of them.  I never in a million years thought I could finish the whole story.  In its course, I've done a lot of things I wanted to do, taking themes and stringing them different ways in different tones through different times—recurring elements twisted in different ways.  And I've managed to do something that I've always kind of been fascinated with—doing something in over 12 hours instead of two.  What it really comes down to is, I am a happy man. What else can I tell you?"

- George Lucas, 2005

"I accomplished what I set out to accomplish, I'm very happy that I reached the finish line."

- George Lucas, 2005

"Why would I make any more when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?"

- George Lucas, 2012
complete interview

"The final three films were going to get into a microbiotic world.  There's this world of creatures that operate differently than we do.  I call them the Whills.  And the Whills are the ones who actually control the universe. They feed off the Force.

"Individuals are vehicles for the Whills to travel around in—and the conduit is the midi-chlorians. The midi-chlorians are the ones that communicate with the Whills. The Whills, in a general sense, they are the Force.

"These three films would have been done.  Of course, a lot of the fans would have hated it, just like they did Phantom Menace and everything, but at least the whole story from beginning to end would have been told."

- George Lucas, 2018

"I kind of lost control of Star Wars, so it's going off in a different path than what I intended. But the first six are very much mine and my philosophy."

- George Lucas, 2021

"George Lucas once told me I'd play the Obi-Wan-type character in Episode VII, sort of passing on the Excalibur down to the next generation.  He said that it would come out around 2011." - Mark Hamill, 1983 complete interview (youtube)

"The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. in a stock and cash transaction. Lucasfilm is 100% owned by Lucasfilm Chairman and Founder, George Lucas.

"Kathleen Kennedy, current Co-Chairman of Lucasfilm, will become President of Lucasfilm. Kennedy will serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant.  Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and we hope the franchise will grow well into the future."

- Disney Press Release, October 2012

"There is substantial pent up demand for a new Star Wars movie. In 2015, we're planning to release Star Wars Episode 7—the first feature film under the 'Disney-Lucasfilm' brand.  That will be followed by Episodes 8 and 9 and our long term plan is to release a new Star Wars feature film every two to three years."

- Robert A. Iger, chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company, October 2012

"It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime." - George Lucas