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 ones that I originally wrote [on screen in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"]". Some details about Lucas's story treatments from the early-2010s were revealed in the book "The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi". In January 2013 at Skywalker Ranch, George Lucas held the first story briefing about the as-yet untitled "Episode VII". Related concept art includes: Lucas seemingly had planned for the conclusion of Luke's story to happen in "Episode VII" instead of "Episode VIII", with Luke dying at the end of the film; this element was instead incorporated into Johnson's film. Conversely, some months later, Mark Hamill