Star Wars opening crawl no other "Star Wars" movies prior to 1977. In addition, it was not certain if the film would be followed with a sequel. When "The Empire Strikes Back" was released in 1980, the episode number, "Episode V", and subtitle "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK" appeared as the first two lines of the opening crawl. To match its sequel's crawl, the episode number "Episode IV" and subtitle "A NEW HOPE" were added for the film's theatrical re-release in April 1981. The original version, without the subtitle, was not released again until the 2006 limited edition DVDs. Star Wars opening crawl The opening
Star Wars sequel trilogy discovery for the audience". Much of the old expanded universe content would continue to be available under the "Star Wars: Legends" brand, which was created to brand the non-canonical works of the franchise. Only "Episodes I-VI" would remain canon to the franchise, along "The Clone Wars" animated film and series. Everything produced after the announcement, would also be considered remain canon. The first film in the sequel trilogy was titled "Episode VII: The Force Awakens" and written by Lucas co-writer on two sequels in the original trilogy Lawrence Kasdan, along J.J. Abrams, who also directed it. As noted by Lucas