According to Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker, "Star Wars" creator George Lucas told him in 1976 that he planned three or four "Star Wars" trilogies. Lucas suggested that 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, the producer of the first two films, was aware of proposed story elements for "Episode VII" to "Episode IX" before 1980. At the time of the release of "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980), 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 in late 1980, Lucas described how the expansive scope of "Star Wars" had started with an overlong screenplay: