Star Wars sequel trilogy in late 1980, Lucas described how the expansive scope of "Star Wars" had started with an overlong screenplay: He added that he had: In this interview, Lucas also stated that he had "titles and ten-page story outlines for each of" the nine episodes. In an interview with Gary Kurtz in the same magazine, Kurtz said: In an interview with "Starlog" magazine published in September 1981, Lucas confirmed that he had the nine-film series plotted, cautioning: Shortly after 1980's release of "Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back", Lucas had already written story treatments for episodes: "VI", and the sequel trilogy consisting
Star Wars sequel trilogy of "Star Wars" novels, Zahn was interviewed about the at-the-time just-announced sequel trilogy in 2012, he confirmed the sequel trilogy was never meant to be based on his Thrawn novels nor the expanded universe but said he had been briefed years before on Lucas's plans for the sequels. (Zahn had discussions with Lucas before the first Thrawn novel was published in 1991.) As announced by Lucasfilm, the sequel trilogy also meant the end of most of the existing "Star Wars" expanded universe, so as to give "maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers and also preserve an element of surprise and