[Dilbert San Diego]

And wasn’t there a new Star Wars movie, which will fill in the back story of Han Solo? I haven’t kept up with it. But, there could be many more such movies made, if they delve into the back story of multiple characters.

Interesting how this all works. I had heard that many many years ago, that George Lucas and his people had to brainstorm back stories which explain things. When Star Wars became such a huge hit, and inevitably talk of sequels came up, that’s when George devised plot points, such as Darth Vader being Luke’s father, and Luke and Leia having been twins separated at birth.

None of that was talked about in the first movie, because Lucas didn’t know that there would be a sequel at the time the first one was made.

[Ciaphas Cain]

A few months after the first movie came out, George Lucas made a surprise visit... as in he didn't announce at all that he was coming... to a sci-fi convention in California. When everyone realized that the guy who made their favorite new movie was among them, there obviously came about an impromptu Q and A session. And during it someone asked "So who is this Darth Vader guy anyway?"

Lucas replied "He's Luke Skywalker's father."

Allegedly, Lucas was shocked that it wasn't widespread knowledge when it was confirmed six years later in Return of the Jedi.

[Defiant]

But I thought that I read that Lucas had an outline of 9 movies in his head at the time of the first one, had been thinking about it for years as he absorbed the samarai movies while in film school. Maybe that was just myth.