Star Wars fans all know that George Lucas has a tendency to tinker.

Notably around the time of the prequel trilogy, the creator released special editions of the original films with a number of new CGI affects and changes, a move that proved controversial to many fans.

However, The Rise of Skywalker director JJ Abrams has admitted that the original theatrical cuts of the movies won't be released commercially again – something that he himself isn't too thrilled about.

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"I have asked about this," he told NowThis. "Well, 'cause who wouldn't wanna see that? But I've been told that, for reasons I don't quite understand, that that's not necessarily possible. Which is too bad because that was the thing that I loved."

The director went on to recall a conversation he had while making The Force Awakens, in which they were discussing the hologram scene with the Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back.

Lucas retroactively altered the scene to replace the original actor with subsequent Emperor star Ian McDiarmid, and also tinkered with some of the original dialogue too.

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"We realised we were talking about two different versions because there's the sort of Despecialized version, which you can see online, you know, someone got me a version, and then there was the official version," Abrams revealed.

Reflecting on Lucas' decision to alter the movies, the director mused: "I guess it's what George Lucas wanted, and that's what he did, and so I respect that.

"Although I also feel like there's something about the original theatrical version that was, for so many people, the thing they loved... And so, you know, it would be great to have that available for a mainstream audience."

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He went on to say: "At a certain point, you have to say, 'This is what it is.' And, for me, the idea of going back and making an incremental change or an adjustment to this or that, it just doesn't – it's not interesting to me.

"But I respect the impulse of artists to continue to work on their stuff... there's so many things that I, you know, I constantly feel like, oh, I wish we'd done this, or I wish that.

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"But, for me, living in a kind of revisiting mindset is forward-moving. It would make me go crazy if I got into that. It'd be a rabbit hole I'd never climb out of.

"It's like when you watch a little kid draw a picture, and they're like, 'I'm done,' and they just know that they're done. And you're like, how the hell do you know you're done?

"Maybe there's more, you could do more shading. You know, but they just know they're done. And I think that can be a very healthy thing."

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has a release date of Thursday, December 19 in the UK and Friday, December 20 in the US.

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