Following his recent comments explaining why he'll never return to direct another Star Wars film, George Lucas has come forward to shed a bit more light on why he decided to leave the franchise.

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"The issue was ultimately, they looked at the stories and they said, 'We want to make something for the fans,'" Lucas told CBS News . "People don't actually realize it's actually a soap opera and it's all about family problems - it's not about spaceships."So (Disney) decided they didn't want to use those stories, they decided they were going to do their own thing so I decided, 'fine.... I'll go my way and I let them go their way.'"Lucas went on to discuss the process involved in pulling himself away from Star Wars and moving forward, likening it to a breakup. "When you break up with somebody, the first rule is no phone calls," he said. "The second rule, you don't go over to their house and drive by to see what they're doing. The third one is you don't show up at their coffee shop and say you are going to burn it... You just say 'Nope, gone, history, I'm moving forward.'" Star Wars: The Force Awakens , the series' first chapter in which Lucas is not involved, opens December 18. In anticipation for its release, check out these five things you should know before going into the film.

Alex Osborn is freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter