George Lucas says a "lot of the ideas" from the original Star Wars have been lost since the sale to Disney

George Lucas Star Wars
(Image credit: Getty Images)

George Lucas says a lot of his ideas from the original Star Wars were lost after he sold Lucasfilm to Disney.

“I was the one who really knew what Star Wars was…who actually knew this world, because there’s a lot to it. The Force, for example, nobody understood the Force,” Lucas told French publication Brut in an interview at the Cannes Film Festival. “When they started other ones after I sold the company, a lot of the ideas that were in [the original] sort of got lost. But that’s the way it is. You give it up, you give it up.”

The filmmaker sold Lucasfilm to Disney for $4.05 billion back in 2012. 20th Century Fox was the original distributor of the first six Star Wars movies, which Disney also acquired in 2019 after purchasing 21st Century Fox.

Since the acquisition, Disney has theatrically released Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rogue One, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Disney began its roll-out of live-action Star Wars TV shows in 2019 with The Mandalorian, followed by The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and Ahsoka. The Acolyte and Skeleton Crew are set to hit Disney Plus in 2024.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is apparently one of Lucas's favorite Star Wars projects, with Lucasfilm creative executive Pablo Hidalgo previously commenting that it's "because he recognizes so much of what he did in the prequels basically brought forward and celebrated it."

For more from a galaxy far, far away, check out our list of all of the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows that you need to know about.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.