Mark Hamill as an aged Luke: That's like the best nostalgia drawcard you could come up with. All the old farts who haven't paid attention to anything SW since the OT will go along, just to relive a bit. They might not show up to something they could write off as post OT silliness with Mouse ears. But give them a trailer with the elder Luke staring at Tatooine's suns setting and it's gold. This will have absolutely zero effect on a young audience who grew up on the PT. They will be there.
Just got some internet access so I'm late to this but I'm thrilled about the news. If they end up sucking we still have the old ones but if they rock then it's great. Interested to see where they intend to go with this. As I'm just getting caught up and have limited internet time, have any plot developments been confirmed so far?
Since this decision, I've always been a bit split. STar Wars is a special, in some basic, foundational way.. it looks and feels unlike anything else, and this look and feel is consistent throughout its own universe. It mixes the storytelling of fantasy with the trappings of science fiction. It was not just perfect escapism, but it spoke to the human imagination in a very basic way, and its characters truly became our modern mythology, becoming more recognizable to our culture than Odyseus and Achillies. So, in some ways, the time period during which STar Wars was most special was during the time when there wasn't much Star Wars at all, the 16 years between episode six and episode one. It was special and we all were eager for more stories but didn't want the mythology to be cheapened, or its unique feel to come to easy. Even as a kid, I knew the tremendous lengths the filmmakers had to go through to make the films, and how they changed the everything by being so innovative in every aspect of the film. The prospect of getting so much Star Wars, then is both good, because the universe is so rich and unique and so many good stories can be told there, but I don't want the franchise cheapened. But I think that the "new" powers that be must come to realize that there is so much meaning to this franchise. It shouldn't be a "let's slap a story together and finish the script after we start shooting" philosophy that damaged the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. So I'm hopeful, and eager to see a new take on stories set in this wondrous universe. The first post here, written years ago points out that even the OT had plot points that really don't hold up well, but that these stories were set in this unique universe really was a big part of what made them special.
x3 ... don't discount nostalgia ... and don't discount the need to establish a new identity. A "passing of the baton" scenario is highly likely - and will no doubt result in endless internet nerdrage.
That is exactly what I been hoping for too. The Obi-Wan comparison makes sense for age and experience. But Luke barely knew Obi-Wan before he died. I think while Luke's role maybe less than it was in the OT it will be larger than Obi-Wan's was.
I like Timothy Zahn's comment about family, actually. Family has been one of the biggest themes of Star Wars as a film series (given its sometimes almost myopic obsession with the Skywalker clan), but it's mostly been presented dysfunctionally, as he says. And having Luke be the Obi-Wan to his actual child (or children) would be pretty interesting. Not to mention Aunt Leia and Uncle Han. It'd be funny to have at least one scene of those two in their understated old age shoving their kids out the front door for adventure.
Prince Xizor and the Black Sun would make a terrific villain and organization for Luke, Leia and the former Rebels to fight in the new Sequel Trilogy but, alas, book canon dating back to the mid-nineties places Xizor's defeat and death before JEDI (circa 4 ABY) and he and Black Sun can't be used unless the Shadows of the Empire storyline is decanonized and dumped so they can be used in the future films. SOTE is a pretty beloved and accepted piece of non-filmed SW lore and I doubt it would be shelved and forgotten so easily.
^I think the Sith have to be the villains. The battle between the Jedi and Sith and light and dark both internally and externally are at the core of the Saga. But that risks him overshadowing the principal characters of the sequels.
Maybe he will still be a principal character. The OT had a large group of characters. A number of whom are dead. It will not be hard to add more to the survivors. There is this assumption that the classic characters need to be diminished for new ones to shine. I don't agree with that at all. I think Luke will have an important role. Lucas named him after himself. There is talk of spin-offs after this trilogy ends the main story. I would think the classic characters will still be important in episodes 7-9. Otherwise it will feel like a different story. With newer characters having even more time in spin-offs.
This is worth reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_sequeIl_trilogy It chronicles all of Lucas various comments about his plans and ideas for a sequel trilogy since the late 1970s. Sure they are vague and undeveloped. Some are inconsistent with how the OT ended. But there is one consistent idea. That a sequel trilogy would be take place decades after the OT. That he envisioned from the start making them with the cast when they reached their 60s and 70s. So he always intended to set post Jedi movies decades later and be about the core characters. But clearly the backstory, the prequels was the idea he had develped the most and wanted to finish himself. Perhaps now after reaching old age himself, the idea of seeing his characters at that point appeals to him again. Being able to mostly enjoy it as part of the audience this time with out the stress.