Star Wars sequel trilogy of episodes "VII", "VIII" and "IX". Dale Pollock, George Lucas's biographer, revealed in a 2012 interview, that as part of his biographical research during the 1980s, Lucas had allowed him to read the plot outlines for the at the time comprising 12 planned "Star Wars" film episodes, albeit on the condition of signing a confidentiality agreement. Those plans Pollock saw, however were drastically changed after "Empire Strikes Back" released because Lucas decided not to make the sequel trilogy, and instead finish the story as a trilogy, by ending the storyline with "". This led Lucas to rework and fully incorporate
Star Wars sequel trilogy Zahn to write a "Star Wars expanded universe" novel series set after the events in the original trilogy, which was called the Thrawn Trilogy. This decision meant that Lucas decided to further cancel the sequel trilogy, with many hundreds of subsequent other works set after the original trilogy. From 1997 onwards, Lucas took it a step further, when he ceased to talk about his sequel trilogy ideas. When asked, he would frequently repeat that he had no plans to make the sequel trilogy and that he would not allow other directors to make it. He gave various explanations for the