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Empire Strikes Back and Solo Writer is Done With Star Wars


Lawrence Kasdan is a big name to Star Wars fans, penning some of the most well-known films in the franchise like The Empire Strikes Back and Return of The Jedi. Kasdan also co-wrote current Star Wars movies like The Force Awakens and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Those hoping that Kasdan will stay involved with the franchise are in for some bad news since the writer has stated that he's done with Star Wars.

Speaking in the Austin Film Festival (via SyFy Wire), Kasdan revealed some details about his Star Wars writing gigs and why he is done with the franchise. Initially, he wanted nothing to do with the franchise until a meeting with George Lucas revealed that they were working on a Han Solo spin-off, which would later be the somewhat successful Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Once he agreed to Solo, Kasdan was roped into helping out in The Force Awakens, where he has a co-writing credit. After Solo was released, Kasdan wanted to get back into directing but Disney and Lucasfilm tried their best to keep him involved in Star Wars. There were even some reports of a messenger going to Kasdan's home to send him the script, who the writer/director claims he's never seen.

"I never saw this poor messenger they sent. I said, 'I can't take it.' I didn't want to sit down and read someone else's Star Wars movie. I'm just not interested in Star Wars."

While he's done with the franchise, Kasdan admits that he's pretty grateful for his opportunities with LucasFilm, acknowledging that you'd have to be pretty privileged to turn down a Star Wars script.

"Don't think for a second I don't know how lucky I am that they're sending a Star Wars script to my door and I can say, 'No, I won't accept it.' You have to be in a very privileged situation to do that, and I don't ever take that for granted."

Thanks for the memories, Kasdan! We definitely owe a lot of the franchise's highs to this big filmmaker. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker comes out on December 20.

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