Lucas's vision for Star Wars 8 is actually very similar to what we see

With the official conclusion of the nine Star Wars movies, we may never know what George Lucas originally planned for the Star Wars sequel trilogy. But Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo recently revealed an interesting plot point. According to Hidalgo, Lucas originally planned to kill Luke Skywalker in his Star Wars 8.

Hidalgo introduced this little-known fact in his new book "Star Wars: Fascinating Facts - Stories, Lore and History from the Greatest Galaxy". Apparently, when Disney bought the rights from Lucasfilm in 2012, Luke's death was retained as an important plot point set by Lucas.

"Years before filming of The Last Jedi began, in 2012, George Lucas left the door open for Luke Skywalker to die in Episode VIII," Hidalgo wrote.

Hidalgo didn't go into detail about Luke's death, but in another paragraph he suggested that Disney may have taken more inspiration from Lucas' treatment of the plot than fans might realize. Lucas's planned sequel trilogy also featured a young Force-sensitive woman on a heroic journey.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been evolving from idea to filming, but one idea has been consistent throughout, and that is the journey of a young woman to become a Jedi Knight. In George Lucas' earliest outlines, she was a 14-year-old girl named Taryn. After many iterations, her name was shortened to Thea and...Winkie."

In fact, Lucas even envisioned Taryn/Thea/Winkie searching for the missing and disillusioned Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Hidalgo said Lucas compared it to Captain Wilder hunting the mysterious Colonel Kurtz in 1979's Apocalypse Now. Considering Lucas originally directed Apocalypse Now, it's not surprising that he would have this mindset.

It may be years before we get a new Star Wars movie, but there's been a lot of TV action lately. The second season of The Mandalorian is set to premiere on October 30, and a new animated series is set to hit Disney+ in 2021.