Forty-nine years ago, writer and director George Lucas changed the world forever with the release of a film called Star Wars. It not only redefined expectations for sci-fi and family films at the time, but it kickstarted a franchise and fandom that remain relevant today. Though Lucas sold Lucasfilm (and Star Wars with it) to The Walt Disney Company in 2012, he remains as important to the franchise as he was in 1977. Lucas has long been known for sharing nuggets of wisdom about the creative process behind Star Wars, along with fascinating details about the lore and characters from that galaxy far, far away.
Below, we’ve picked out 10 of the best George Lucas quotes about Star Wars, ranging from funny to eye-opening.
1
“Darth Icky”
In 2008, LucasArts released the action-adventure game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which follows Starkiller, Darth Vader’s secret apprentice. Sam Witwer portrays the character, who is now best known for his role as Maul in Star Wars animated projects.
LucasArts developers would sometimes have Lucas check in on the games they were making. One instance, however, stands out as being particularly memorable.
“The team threw a Hail Mary to George, saying the game would have more credibility if the apprentice had a ‘Darth’ title,” a Force Unleashed developer told GameInformer. Lucas agreed, and presented two options, of which we clearly have a favorite: “Darth Icky” and “Darth Insanius.”
Nobody can ever say that Lucas didn’t have a sense of humor.
2
“The movies are for children, but they don’t want to admit that.”
Lucas has never been shy about feeling that the criticism he received for his prequel films was unwarranted — particularly the reaction to the first film, The Phantom Menace, and comedic characters like Jar Jar Binks.
Speaking to Newsnight in 1999, Lucas took offense at critics who seemed to want his movies oriented more toward adults. However, that was never the goal for any of Lucas’s Star Wars films, including the original trilogy.
“The movies are for children, but they don’t want to admit that.” Lucas explained. “In the first film, they absolutely hated R2 and C-3PO. In the second film they didn’t like Yoda, and in the third one they hated the Ewoks… and now Jar Jar is getting accused of the same thing.”
No matter how much modern Star Wars fans may hate it, ultimately the franchise is meant to appeal to children.
3
“I don’t know anything about that world. That’s a different world than my world.”
When Disney acquired Lucasfilm, it removed much of the material established in books, comics, and other formats from canon. As expected, fans of this expanded universe weren’t happy to see some of their favorite stories erased from existence.
However, Lucas didn’t consider the expanded universe material something he needed to pay attention to. In a 2005 interview with Starlog Magazine, Lucas was asked about this material, to which he responded, “I don’t read that stuff. I haven’t read any of the novels. I don’t know anything about that world. That’s a different world than my world.”
This isn’t to say Lucas hated the expanded universe, but as far as he was concerned, the only “canon” he followed was the movies he worked on himself.
4
“The selfish people live on the Dark side. The compassionate people live on the Light side.”
The discourse about the Light and Dark side of the Force has continued ever since Star Wars first hit the silver screen. Even 49 years later, ask a Star Wars fan about the difference between Light and Dark, and it’s likely you’ll get into a heated discussion about it.
Yet, as Lucas explains, the difference is much simpler than some fans assume. To be selfish means pursuing your own pleasures and caring little for anyone else, which can lead to misery and loneliness. On the other side is compassion, where you put others before yourself and build a community that is ultimately selfless. It may seem black and white, but at its heart, it captures the balance between the two sides of the Force in Star Wars.
5
“People have a tendency to confuse it — everybody has the Force.”
One of the biggest debates in Star Wars fandom resurfaced in Ahsoka season 1, when Sabine Wren resumed her Jedi training. Star Wars: Rebels and the beginning of Ahsoka had already established that Sabine wasn’t strong in the Force, making her training under Ahsoka seem ludicrous to some fans.
Lucas, on the other hand, has always said that everyone has the Force. In an oral history about The Phantom Menace, Lucas clarified that only Jedi and Sith can use the Force, and having the Force doesn’t automatically make someone a Jedi or a Sith. The Force surrounds every living creature; all it takes is training to tap into it.
6
“It’s like poetry, it rhymes.”
In a behind-the-scenes featurette on the creation of the Star Wars prequels, Lucas used the quote above to describe the thematic relationship between the prequels and the original trilogy.
The prequels chronicle the rise and fall of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, who later becomes Darth Vader. Anakin’s fall isn’t just hard to watch because he betrays his friends and loved ones; it also underscores the inevitable destruction of the Republic, as the fascist Galactic Empire, led by Emperor Palpatine, rises to take its place.
You can hate the prequels, but it’s undeniable that they served as a great lead-in to the original trilogy’s narrative and themes.
7
“Power corrupts.”
Good versus evil is a major pillar of every Star Wars story. But in an interview with Wired, Lucas went a step further, explaining what makes every story set in a galaxy far, far away a classic.
“Every few hundred years, the story is retold because we have a tendency to do the same things over and over again,” Lucas told Wired. “Power corrupts, and when you’re in charge, you start doing things that you think are right, but they’re actually not.”
The pursuit of power to save his wife, Senator Padmé Amidala, ultimately causes Anakin to fall from the Light to the Dark side of the Force. However, the quote remains timeless across Star Wars media, from more children-oriented shows like The Clone Wars to the older, grittier spy series Andor.
8
“Jedi Knights aren’t celibate.”
For viewers who grew up watching the prequel trilogy, it was easy to assume the Jedi’s biggest beef with Anakin and Padmé’s secret relationship was that they weren’t supposed to be together because the Jedi were celibate. After all, attachments equal sexual relations, right?
Wrong. As Lucas told the BBC in 2002, the Jedi are able to have sexual relationships with people — but becoming attached to that person is a huge no-no.
“The thing that is forbidden is attachments and possessive relationships,” Lucas explained. After seeing what happens in Revenge of the Sith, any Star Wars fan can see why.
9
“It was the Empire during the Vietnam War.”
A certain group on the internet, frothing with rage about anything and everything since Lucas sold it to Disney, believes Star Wars has become politicized with hidden agendas and “woke” messaging.
The reality is that Lucas has never concealed Star Wars’ political message. In a conversation with Avatar creator James Cameron for Cameron’s 2018 TV series, Story of Science Fiction, the two discussed how the original trilogy drew on the Vietnam War, with the Rebels specifically representing the Viet Cong. Lucas explained that the point was to show that empires — like the British and American empires — were wrong to throw their weight around and tell others how to live.
At one point, Cameron states that America has “become” the Empire; Lucas corrects him, saying America was the Empire during the Vietnam War. This quote feels even more relevant now, especially in the wake of Star Wars TV series like Andor.
10
“There’s nothing new.”
George Lucas has kept pretty mum about the whole sequel trilogy, but an eye-opening reveal slipped out in one of the most unlikely places: the 2019 memoir of former Disney CEO Bob Iger.
In one of Iger’s chapters, he revealed that during a screening of 2016’s The Force Awakens, Lucas expressed his disappointment with the film.
“There’s nothing new,” Iger reports Lucas as saying, with the creator noting that each film in the original trilogy presented new worlds, stories, characters, and technologies — that’s not the case for The Force Awakens.
A decade or so later, Lucas’s quote to Iger captures many of the problems Star Wars faces today. With the next planned trilogy returning to the Skywalkers, some fans are wondering when Lucasfilm will take another chance on something new and send them on an adventure unlike any the franchise has explored before.