George Lucas’ Unmade Revenge Of The Sith Sequel Was Way Ahead Of Its Time

Published Oct 7, 2026, 8:30 PM EDT

Sean is a senior writer for ScreenRant and has been writing about new TV releases since December 2023. He has received multiple advance screenings of popular shows and ideated his own coverage read by hundreds of thousands of readers.

Sean is a self-published author of a Western novel. Sean has also written award-winning opinion pieces related to local politics while getting his Bachelor's degree in journalism.

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George Lucas had an idea for a Star Wars sequel to Revenge of the Sith that never got made, partly because it was decades ahead of its time. Though George Lucas hasn't been part of the franchise since Disney purchased Star Wars in 2012, he left behind some plans for it. Most famously, Lucas had plans for the Star Wars sequel trilogy that Disney ultimately decided not to use.

Before he sold the franchise, Lucas also had plans for a massive live-action Star Wars show. That show, Star Wars: Underworld, was supposed to explore the criminal elements of Coruscant under the reign of the Empire, shortly after Revenge of the Sith. Despite Lucas' best efforts, however, the show was put on indefinite hold in 2010, even though there were over 60 completed scripts for episodes of Underworld. The show reportedly had a massive and unjustifiable budget, it spent years in the design phase, and it was just too difficult for Lucasfilm to pull off.

One of the overlooked reasons Underworld never got off the ground, however, was because it was way ahead of its time. Underworld was prophetic in a few ways. Obviously, Star Wars would go on to make several live-action television shows under Disney's leadership, and the idea of centering a show around criminals and villains has even survived in shows like Tales of the Underworld and Maul - Shadow Lord. The biggest way Underworld was ahead of its time, however, would have been a massive change for Star Wars as a whole.

Star Wars: Underworld Was Supposed To Be Based On Film Noir & Soap Operas

In an interview with Total Film from 2008, while discussing the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, George Lucas shared some surprising tidbits about Underworld. In Lucas' own words, he described Underworld as "talky," meaning less action-heavy than the films, and as a "soap opera with a bunch of personal dramas in it." Lucas also compared the show to the film noir genre, which gained massive popularity in the 1940s.

Based on George Lucas' comments, Underworld would have been very different from what Star Wars fans had come to expect of the franchise, and not necessarily in a good way. This interview was from 2008, just a few years after Revenge of the Sith finished the prequel trilogy. The prequels, meanwhile, were heavily criticized for being overly political, overly expository, and overly dialog-heavy. A common critique of The Phantom Menace, at the time, centered around how boring it was for a Star Wars movie to revolve around trade disputes and characters talking politics instead of getting in lightsaber duels and starfighter battles.

Underworld would have doubled down on some of the most controversial parts of the prequel trilogy. Instead of going back to the action-packed feel of the original trilogy, Lucas wanted to have even more dialog and shift even further into the personal drama and conversations of film noir. It almost seems like Lucas designed Underworld to anger fans who wanted Star Wars to fit in a box, and if it had been made, it would have very much so succeeded at that task. If Underworld had been made a decade later, however, it would have been revolutionary.

Andor Proved Underworld Was Way Ahead Of Its Time

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The dialog and film noir elements of Star Wars: Underworld were way ahead of their time, and nothing proves that better than Andor. Andor is, at its core, the same kind of show George Lucas wanted to make with Underworld. It's far and away the most "talky" show in the entire franchise, and it features far more personal drama and dialog than anything else in Star Wars. Andor even draws inspiration from film noir through its dark visuals, deeply serious and mature story, and mystery and redemption elements.

Andor obviously isn't exactly what George Lucas likely had in mind for Underworld, especially since it in no way resembles a soap opera and since Lucas himself wasn't involved at all. Still, it's the closest we'll ever get to seeing Underworld at this point. Because of those similarities, Andor also provides a window into why Underworld may not have happened, and why it was so far ahead of its time.

Upcoming Star Wars Movies & Shows
Title	Release Date
Ahsoka Season 2	January 20, 2027
Star Wars: Starfighter	May 28, 2027
Maul - Shadow Lord Season 2	TBA
New Jedi Order	TBA
Simon Kinberg's Trilogy	TBA
Dawn of the Jedi	TBA
Star Wars: Visions Season 4	TBA

When Andor first premiered in 2022, a small but vocal group of viewers criticized the show for the very qualities it shares with Underworld. Detractors said Andor was too dialog-heavy without enough action for Star Wars, and that it was too slow-paced to be as engaging as, say, Revenge of the Sith. If Andor was getting that kind of criticism while featuring the beautiful and poignant writing of Tony Gilroy and others, just imagine what kind of flack Underworld would have gotten with George Lucas' patented stilted dialog a decade earlier.

Andor shouldn't have worked. A noir-esque political thriller set in a franchise as family-friendly and action-packed as Star Wars should have been a disaster, but it wasn't because Andor is one of the greatest shows of all time and, crucially, because fans were ready for it. The sequels made fans disillusioned with the franchise, and the rapidly maturing fans of the prequels wanted something more adult in tone. Disney+ and the streaming age also made Andor's massive budget a possibility. It was the perfect storm to make Andor work.

Underworld, on the other hand, didn't have that perfect timing. Star Wars fans were still mad about the prequels, still had long-held beliefs about what Star Wars should be, and wouldn't have been receptive to an even slower and more dramatic version of the very trilogy they had just railed against. George Lucas had an idea that could have become the best show Star Wars could ever produce, he just had it a decade too early. Luckily, it lived on in some form and became Andor.