'Star Wars' 7, 8 and 9 Are 'The Most Exciting,' Says George Lucas Biographer (Exclusive)

The stories for "Star Wars" episodes seven, eight and nine, which George Lucas has outlined and the Walt Disney Company will produce and release, are "the most exciting" in the series, the filmmaker's biographer told TheWrap on Wednesday.

While researching his book, Dale Pollock, author of the unauthorized Lucas biography, "Skywalking: The Life And Films Of George Lucas," was allowed to read the outlines to the 12 stories written by the filmmaker but was required to sign a confidentiality agreement.

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"It was originally a 12-part saga," Pollock told TheWrap. "The three most exciting stories were 7, 8 and 9. They had propulsive action, really interesting new worlds, new characters. I remember thinking, 'I want to see these 3 movies.'"

Disney bought Lucasfilm on Tuesday for $4.05 billion and announced a plan to release at least three new "Star Wars" films, starting in 2015.

Pollock researched the book in the 1980s and interviewed Lucas some 80 times. Nonetheless, Lucas was not a fan, and the two no longer have a relationship. The book was first published in 1983 and re-released in 1999. Pollock is a professor of cinema studies at the University of North Carolina's School of Filmmaking.

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For his part, Pollock deems the three "Star Wars" prequels – which made hundreds of millions at the box office but were disdained by many fans of the original – "dreadful. I think they're horrible. For me, the first one is the worst. Maybe the second prequel is better one. I didn't like the third one at all."

He added: "When he did the three prequels, he was in a Lucas vacuum. No one saw the scripts [in advance], they were dreadful screenplays. I thought they seemed dry. They were medieval in terms of court intrigue. And it was a weird way to start out the story."

The next in the series, he said, involve Luke Skywalker in his 30s and 40s, but Lucas was unlikely to turn to Mark Hamill, who played Luke in the original but whose performance left the director dissatisfied.

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"They will need an older Luke Skywalker," Pollock said.

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The author said there is little doubt that Disney will use Lucas's outlines for the next three movies. "Writers will absolutely take his outline. That's in part what Disney bought," he said.

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