Star Wars: the most popular saga ever created.

From 1977 up until today, Star Wars has filled with passion generations over generations of fans. The original trilogy has become a cult classic, known by more than a billion people worldwide. Darth Vader, Yoda, R2-D2, the Empire, the Jedis, so many elements of the Star Wars movie have become massive pieces of pop-culture history. And this all started with the dream of a man, George Lucas.

First drafts and despair.

George Lucas signed a contract with Universal Studios in 1971 for 3 movies. The first one, American Graffiti, received overwhelming critical acclaims, and Lucas was nominated for Best Director and Original Screenplay. Having proven his worth, Lucas worked on his second idea. Settled in space, the first draft of the project turned out to be too difficult to understand, and Lucas had to change many aspects of it. By 1974, the official “Star Wars” project was in the making. The Force, Ben Kenobi, Annikin and Luke Starkiller (who would Anakin and Luke Skywalker) and his son Luke were created in the second draft. George Lucas’ ideas did not always please the writers and producers, and the drafts underwent many modifications. Even though Lucas had made sure to own the rights to a 9-series saga, he stopped believing in Star Wars by the end of the production and was ready to walk away. But when the Star Wars: A New Hope came out on May 25th, 1977, it was a worldwide critical and popular success. The movie’s universe and characters carved themselves a place in pop-culture, and Star Wars related merchandise sales went off the roof. Thanks to this success, Lucas was pumped up and ready to write more Star Wars movies.

A story with a twist.

While working on drafts for The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas devised that Vader was Luke’s father, and redefined the relations between Obi-Wan, Vader and the Emperor. With a variety of writers, directors, and producers working on the project, the movie took a darker turn served by a more mature story. When released on May 21, 1980, the movie surprised viewers and critics by managing to be even better than its predecessor. Its amazing character development, storytelling and universe expansion settled Star Wars as a mythical science fiction saga.

The end of the dream.

But when Lucas started working on Return of the Jedi, he was completely burned out. His private life was falling apart, and the two previous movies had taken a huge toll on him. Still, Lucas devised a first script in which Darth Vader and the Emperor were competing to draw Luke to the dark side. Hit by a stroke of genius, Lucas revised this in his second script, making Vader the sympathetic, tragic character that we know today. But due to the toll that Star Wars had taken on him, Lucas vowed to stop the series in a Time Magazine interview in 1983. The movie’s release on May 25, 1983, put a final close to the trilogy and pleased fans and critics. The trilogy was considered the best one in movie history, and for years to come, Star Wars would be in the heart of millions of fans across the world.

A bright future.

Of course, as we know today, Star Wars would not end in 1983. By 1993, thanks to technological innovations and a resurgence in Star Wars’ popularity through the comic books’ Expanded Universe, Lucas was interested in directing a prequel to Star Wars. The story continues today with the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney, and the new trilogy started in 2015 with The Force Awakens. Nevertheless, the legend of Star Wars started with a few men’s vision in 1977, on the sandy dunes of Tatooine.

For cool merchandise from Star Wars' original trilogy, check our Star Wars T-Shirt!