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 expanded to other media considered canonical within the franchise would be the primary episodic films, and and . The announcement called these works "the immovable objects of "Star Wars" history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align." It was also made clear that a planned "Star Wars" sequel trilogy, and subsequent works developed within the restructured canon, would not be based on "Legends" material but could possibly draw from it. There was some fan backlash against this decision, with one group successfully campaigning to buy a billboard pleading for Lucasfilm to continue the original "Expanded Universe" separately from the new