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: The Roleplaying Game later became the "Star Wars" expanded universe, and its sourcebooks are still frequently cited by "Star Wars" fans as reference material. Lucasfilm considered the West End Games' "Star Wars" sourcebooks so authoritative that when Timothy Zahn was hired to write what became the "Thrawn" trilogy, he was sent a box of West End Games "Star Wars" books and directed to base his novel on the background material presented within. Many of the first uses of "Star Wars" alien names (such as the Twi'lek, Rodian, and Quarren) appeared for the first time in WEG's "Star Wars" books. Even after Disney's reboot