The Real Reason George Lucas Started Star Wars With Episode 4

It turns out, all our teachers were wrong. The correct way to count is 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 well, at least from a certain point of view.

Star Wars is known today as a cultural phenomenon, but it wasn't always seen that way. The original film, A New Hope, was released back in 1977 with little hope of success by even its creator, George Lucas. According to Screen Prism, Lucas was so sure of its failure that when it was released in cinemas, he was hiding out in Hawaii on vacation. But Lucas must have had some belief that the movie could be a hit, because buried deep in his mind was a plan to turn what looked like a standalone film into a series of movies. And then, something incredible happened.

A New Hope then simply titled Star Wars defied the odds and became a mega hit of galactic proportions.

A New Hope was followed by The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, and Return of the Jedi came after in 1983 to complete the original Star Wars trilogy. Then, in 1999, a fourth Star Wars film was released. Only, it wasn't a fourth film it was to be the first one on the Star Wars timeline. The Phantom Menace is in fact episode 1. It was succeeded by episode 2, Attack of the Clones, in 2002, and episode 3, Revenge of the Sith, in 2005, to comprise a Star Wars prequel trilogy. More films were released from 2015 to 2019 The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker which were sequels to the original three Star Wars films.

But why create them in this order? Why not make the first Star Wars trilogy prequels, then create two separate sequel collections?

The answer is a lot simpler than its accompanying questions suggest. Author Michael Kaminski writes in The Secret History of Star Wars that Lucas decided to start with the fourth episode quote, "due to technical and storytelling reasons." Keep watching the video to see the real reason George Lucas started Star Wars with Episode 4!

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