George Lucas may be the originator of the Star Wars universe but during its growth one of the chief architects was Lawrence Kasdan, who turned Lucas’ story ideas into the full-fledged scripts for The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. One of the early indications that Disney was looking to do the best possible Star Wars movies that they could do after they acquired Lucasfilm was the inclusion of Kasdan in the process of hashing out stories and ideas for these films in addition to signing him to write one of the planned spinoff films. And when JJ Abrams started to rework the screenplay for the upcoming The Force Awakens following his hiring to direct the film, he turned to Kasdan for a collaboration partner.
Unfortunately, it is looking as if Kasdan’s tenure with Star Wars may be coming to a close.
The Hollywood Reporter is passing along word from the German tabloid Bild that Kasdan is stating that he has done “enough” work on the franchise and is ready to move on.
I have now made four Star Wars movies. That’s more than enough.
The story also goes on to relate that Kasdan stated that he was not too enthused about working on a Han Solo spinoff film, but relented after his family expressed excitement for the idea, He would go on to write the project with his son Jon Kasdan.
Now, we do have to remember that this is just a tabloid report and there has been no independent confirmation that Kasdan has said this. But, if this is Kasdan’s swansong with the franchise, his work on The Force Awakens should leave behind a solid foundation for the filmmakers who follow with the rest of the new main saga trilogy. And besides, we still have his Han Solo film to look forward to in 2018. And who can’t get excited about a young Han Solo story from the guy who wrote Raiders Of The Lost Ark?
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