First George Lucas bid farewell to his "Star Wars" franchise when he Disney bought Lucasfilm at the end of October, and now another man close to the films is hanging up his Jedi robes.
Rick McCallum, a longtime producer of the franchise, is leaving Lucasfilm. McCallum had a leading role in developing the three "Star Wars" prequels and brought us the many re-releases of the classics including the upcoming 3D re-releases of the prequels.
Instead, McCallum will focus on his own film projects outside of Lucasfilm.
What this means for the future of the franchise:
- A clean slate. With little insight from Lucas and the exit of one of the franchises producers, it looks like Disney is really looking to start fresh with their take on "Star Wars."
In a statement with StarWars.com, McCallum even gave his seal of approval to Kathleen Kennedy taking over the future of the films.
"There's no one more suited who is able to bridge the worlds of elite filmmaking within a studio context," McCallum said. "The Star Wars saga will always be taken care of under her leadership."
- No more Hayden Christensen holograms? In the 2004 DVD re-release of "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" Christensen shortly replaced Sebastian Shaw as Darth Vader at the end of the film.
The 3D releases of episodes II and III will be released September 20 and October 4, 2013, respectively. Episode I came out February 10 of this year.
