Star Wars sequel trilogy suggested Hamill could have a cameo role in "Episode IX", which he imagined filming by 2011. A "Time" magazine story in March 1978, quoting Lucas, stated there would be ten "Star Wars" films after "The Empire Strikes Back". Gary Kurtz was also aware of proposed story elements for "Episode VII" to "Episode IX" before 1980. In 1980, at the time of the release of "The Empire Strikes Back", Lucas said there were seven further "Star Wars" films he wanted to make. He said he had "twelve-page outlines" for those films. In an interview with Jim Steranko in "Prevue" magazine published
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