George Lucas might have created Star Wars, but he has a good reason for never wanting to come back to the saga now that Disney owns it and the company he built, Lucasfilm.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Lucas explained why he was ready to leave the galaxy far, far away and will never direct another Star Wars film.
“You go to make a movie and all you do is get criticized,” Lucas told the magazine. “And it’s not much fun. You can’t experiment.”
Lucas also jokingly told Vanity Fair that Jar Jar Binks is the one Star Wars character he’d like to be.
He did have one bit of advice for The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams and anyone else who handles the saga. “There’s more to it than just spaceships,” he said, adding that he hopes “the Force doesn’t get muddled into a bunch of gobbledygook.”
While Lucas might have been turned off from Star Wars because of the critical response to the prequels, hopefully he hasn’t completely turned away from filmmaking. He hasn’t directed a non-Star Wars movie since 1973’s American Graffiti.
It is worth noting that the one project Lucas has had a hand in since Star Wars, Strange Magic, was also hit hard by critics and flopped at the box office.
The Force Awakens opens on Dec. 18.