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 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