Introduction by George Lucas

[Matt]

For those of you who have a newer copy of the book you will get to enjoy the introduction by George Lucas.

Since the announcement of the new sequel trilogy, many have tried to track down previous mentions of a 3rd trilogy. Vintage magazines, comments by Mark Hamill, and interviews with George Lucas have referenced original plans for 9 or 12 series of films.

To my surprise the introduction mentions a saga of at least nine films. Does anyone know if there is any other published material that is still easily accessible in which this is mentioned? Is the introduction in this book the most concrete proof that George originally envisioned a 9-12 film series? I heard somewhere that the original trilogy was intended to be six movies, but was condensed into three.

[Richard]

What I have heard on several podcast's is that he changes his mind allot of what is initial idea was. What is very interesting is that I heard on one podcast was that what happens in the prequel movies are very much in line with what he said before the release of Empire Strikes back to what I think was Time Magazine.

What is also very interesting is that he uses the sentence, The Force Awakens, in one interview while discussing sequels from long ago I remember from some interview as well.

Can someone else confirm this because I dont have to time to go through podcasts to try to find where these claims are from.