George Lucas talks Star Wars Prequels in 1992
Like most people, who grew up with the original Star Wars trilogy, I was obsessed with the idea of the prequels. For a long time they were mostly rumor. But in the 1990s, they started to seem much more likely. Needless to say, I greedily consumed any details I could find.
This interview where George Lucas talks Star Wars Prequels from 1992 with Leonard Maltin on Entertainment Tonight is a perfect example of what I was looking for. I remember my mother screaming for me from her room for me to come in and watch “the guy who made the Star Wars.”
Lucas is pretty tight-lipped about his plans, but he does drop a nice overview. All of these things would be included in the inevitable prequels.
He mentions the time frame, saying they take place about 40 years before A New Hope.
Then mentions characters we can expect to see. Familiar names like Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and of course Mrs. Skywalker.
This interview looks like it was also released as part of the laser disc release. I worked at a video store still at this time, and Star Wars was by far the most popular rental from our limited laser disc inventory. Whenever it was in the store, I would watch it in the backroom while eating my lunch. Sadly, I don’t recall seeing this interview at the time.