Did Harrison Turn Down A Star Wars VII?

[Ragingblues]

According to this story, Harrison was just offered up to $40 million bucks to play Han Solo again in a new Star Wars Episode VII. Apparently, Lucas is tossing the idea around of making another chapter of the series, set after Return Of The Jedi..... but Harrison was not interested in playing Han one more time. I wonder (as others do about this story) if the whole thing was more of a joke between the two. Still, you can never count Lucas out of wanting to continue the series in some fashion.

Here's the story llink:

www.ww.cinematical.com/2007/01/10/did-harrison-ford-turn-down-a-fourth-star-wars-film/

Note that they called him "Hans".

Ken

[pitfallharry]

I've heard rumors over the years of Lucas mulling over the idea of making Episodes 7, 8 and 9. Apparently the original idea for the middle trilogy was that Luke and Leia would never be brother and sister and at the end of Return of the Jedi Luke would confront Vader but not Palpatine. Leia would go off and rebuild the Republic after the fall of the Empire and Luke would rebuild the Jedi Order. The focus of the last three films would follow Luke's storyline and it would end with him battling Palpatine.

Ford wanted Han to die at the end of Jedi but Lucas didn't want that. So I would assume Han would have gone off and married Leia.

At one point there was also a rumor that Lucas was going to do a direct sequel set some months after Jedi with the original cast only it would be animated using CGI. I kind of liked that idea and at some point they might actually do that. I guess it all depends on how well the CGI Clone Wars show is received by the fans and public.

I think a lot of these rumors are started by overzealous fans looking to maybe get their ideas out there in hopes that Lucas would pick up them and they'd become a reality.

[Ragingblues]

Yeah, I had heard rumors of a 7-8-9 episode plan a few years ago myself. There is a great deal of the story to be told, as evidenced in the many Star Wars novels that take place after Return Of The Jedi. Thankfully, the character databanks tell the brief highlight versions of what happened before the movies, during the timeline of the movies, and beyond them as well:

www.starwars.com/databank/

You can search by time or various categories for the specific info you are interested in, which is a nice touch.

It may never actually happen, but without touching what he has already laid out as the storyline... he has some great tales to tell. How he chooses to tell them, if at all, remains to be seen.

Ken

[pitfallharry]

Thanks for that link.

There's been so many novels and comic books written over the years that it's hard to keep track of what they've done with each of the characters.

I know at one point Lucas gave the "ok" to kill of Chewie in the novels. So I think his death is now canon.

There is one thing that gives SW the upper hand over Indy when it comes to continuing the series and that's the ability to focus on different characters without it becoming a completely different thing. You can't continue Indy stories without "Indy" because once you shift the focus away from him it might as well be a whole new movies series. With Star Wars you can do stories without the main cast of characters and still have it be familiar to the audience and fans. I really think Star Wars could go on forever if they wanted it to.

Heck, they even started a whole new line of stories called Star Wars: Legacy which takes place a 1000 years after Jedi. There is a Skywalker in it and I believe his first name is Cade.


I'd be willing to bet SW will be around in some form by the time I have grandkids. Indy on the other hand might still be around but he will either have been "rebooted" and shifted to a more modern setting or he'll be sitting in "limbo" like so many other great characters of their time period. Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon , The Shadow , Tarzan and Doc Savage come to mind when I think of Indy. Even though he was created for film I still consider him a great literary character as well.

[Ragingblues]

I would never have been able to keep track of any of the stories beyond the movies, had it not been for the Star Wars databank. I have read two novels, one between Episodes 2 & 3, and one between 3 & 4. Both were very good and read like watching the movies. They were also very informative for filling in the blanks and connecting a few dots, so I wouldn't mind reading more in the future.

There were (at last count) more than 100 novels in the Star Wars saga and all are officially part of the storyline. So, I guess I have some catching up to do huh?

Ken

[pitfallharry]

It will be interesting to see how the new live action TV show handles the time period between 3 and 4. At one point I heard the show would focus on characters that had very little to do with the movies but now the lastest word is that it WILL focus somewhat on a young Luke.

I'm think the series might end up being an anthology of sorts where several episodes will focus on one story arc and end then it will shift to a new storyline and characters. I kind of like that idea myself.

[Nicht Storen]

I saw this on COW and I said over there that it has to be a joke. It has been well documented Ford was getting tired of Han Solo in ESB and ROTJ and thought he should have died in the trilogy. I think Lucas, having known this, took it as an opportunity to have a little fun with Ford.

Looks like Ford will get $47 million to play Indy. This thing is on!

[pitfallharry]

Holy Smokes.......$47 Million! Does this include a precentage of the gross?

I wonder if this is Ford's going rate nowadays?

[Kt. Templar]

That story is reported in the Daily Star, not one of the most high brow papers in the UK... just a small step up from the National Enquirer, so big pinch of salt.

[Ragingblues]

Hey Nicht, this was reported here first sir!

KT, I mentioned the joke aspect of it from the story, but should have made it more clear that I thought it was more of a joke myself as well. It may have very well been one of those off the cuff remarks made by Lucas to Ford, in a joking manner. Both parties would have laughed about it, but the newspaper ran with it as though it a serious invitation. From your description of the paper, it sounds like this happened or they may have just made the whole thing up, as those kinds of rag papers do.

I tend to agree that it is most likely just in fun. But, who knows if Lucas was testing the waters with Ford to see if he could interest the big star in the idea before telling anyone else his plans.

Ken

[Nicht Storen]

Ken, I understand you reported it here first. I was just pointing out that I read it over there as well and my comments on this news are basically the same as I wrote over there.

Today, it just happened COW was my first stop on the boards not the Lounge. Sorry if I implied COW reported it first.

-Anthony

[Ragingblues]

Nicht, I was only playing man.

Ken

[Nicht Storen]

Ok we're cool.

[Ragingblues]

Glad to hear Anthony!

I hate that humor doesn't come through on the wen sometimes. I should have just used an emoticon to make sure my sarcasm was coming through!

Ken