“That was one of my mandates, when I began the spin off publishing program it was a sacrosanct rule that everything had to relate to each other, be consistent with each other and be consistent with the movies, ‘which were canon.’

We were pretty religious about doing that, our biggest problem was a guy named George Lucas, because he didn’t buy into the spin off fiction and the game program and all the ‘alternate universe’ we were creating.”

We wanted it to be one universe, we felt strongly that that’s what it needed to be, but George as the filmmaker didn’t want to be beholden to somebody else’s creative vision.

So we would have very interesting skirmishes because we had a bunch of stuff that became, for the fans, pretty much canon [head-canon]* about what happened after Return of the Jedi, what different places in the galaxy were called, lots of different things and if he was proposing to do something in the prequels that contradicted that we would have long debates which usually ended at least after the first session with “I don’t care this is what I’m doing” , and maybe after the *4th or 5th session sometimes “Alright ‘maybe’ we can change it this way”

Now that everything is controlled by one central committee [Lucasfilm Story Group] we can have canon that applies to everything.

‘Messing with a Classic’ — Howard Roffman,President of Lucas Licensing under Lucas, in charge of the EU, Lucasfilm, TV interview, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMKHgwH-gY4 – [12:40 mark]

“Those of us writing the EU were always told, all along, from the very beginning (have I stressed that strongly enough?), “Only the Movies are Canon.” Sure, it was disappointing.”

~ Kathy Tyers, EU author [Truce at Bakura, Balance Point] Interview, 2018

http://starwarsinterviews.com/various/authors/kathy-tyers-author/

..

Podcast Interview with Steve Perry, Author of Shadows of the Empire from the Expanded Universe –

Interviewer – ‘So what are your thoughts about your book and all the ones that came other than this last year are no longer part of the Official Star Wars Canon ever since Disney took over?

Steve Perry – “Ohh they never were! Nothing was ever canon other than the movies.”

The Ritual Misery Podcast with hosts Amos and Kent, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2569&v=opbMcVJolSA&feature=emb_logo

“I get asked all the time, ‘What happens after “Return of the Jedi”?,’ and there really is no answer for that,” he said. “The movies were the story of Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, and when Luke saves the galaxy and redeems his father, that’s where that story ends.””

~ George Lucas, Flannelled One, May 2008, “George Lucas: ‘Star Wars’ won’t go beyond Darth Vader”, interview with Los Angeles Times

..

“I think people over emphasize the importance of the canon level. The intent of the canon levels was, as the main intent was ‘if someones looking for the ships from a film, they can than use those fields to check for them only in the films,and thus seperate that from what was in the EU. So we can look at it case by case. I think there is an over emphasis of what those fields mean and what they represent”.

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Adminstrator for Lucas Licensing

“That ‘level of canon’ thus helps in terms of bookkeeping. Those ‘canon levels’ are for the holocron.”

~ Pablo Hidalgo

ForceCast #273: The Galaxy Is Reading – Interview with Leland Chee and Pablo Hidalgo, 2013 Approximately the 1 hour mark so 1:00 – 1:02 mark

http://www.forcecast.net/story/home/ForceCast_273_The_Galaxy_Is_Reading_154431.asp

..

“There’s this notion that everything changed when everything became Legends. And I can see why people think that. But, you know, having worked with George I can tell you that it was always very clear — and he made it very clear — that the films and the TV shows were the only things that he considered Canon. That was it.”

Dave Filoni interview on ‘The Star Wars show’ [41.40 mark]-

https://youtu.be/hcNXPNXOv2A?t=2500

..

“While Lucasfilm always strived to keep the stories created for the EU consistent with our film and television content as well as internally consistent, Lucas always made it clear that he was not beholden to the EU. He set the films he created as the canon. This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align.”

~ Lucasfilm, 2014

https://www.starwars.com/news/the-legendary-star-wars-expanded-universe-turns-a-new-page

..

“And now there have been novels about the events after Episode VI, which isn’t at all what I would have done with it. The Star Wars story is really the tragedy of Darth Vader. That is the story. Once Vader dies, he doesn’t come back to life, the Emperor doesn’t get cloned and Luke doesn’t get married.”

~ George Lucas,Total Film Magazine Interview, 2008
https://ibb.co/x5q1RrQ

..

“But Lucas allows for an Expanded Universe that exists parallel to the one he directly oversees. […] Though these [Expanded Universe] stories may get his stamp of approval, they don’t enter his canon unless they are depicted cinematically in one of his projects.”

~ Pablo Hidalgo, Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion, 2012

..

“There are two worlds here,” explained Lucas. “There’s my world, which is the movies, and there’s this other world that has been created, which I say is the parallel universe – the licensing world of the books, games and comic books.”

~ George Lucas, Cinescape, 2002

..

“What George did with the films and The Clone Wars was pretty much his universe ,” Chee said. “He didn’t really have that much concern for what we were doing in the books and games. So the Expanded Universe was very much separate.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Adminstrator for Lucas Licensing, SYFY WIRE Fandom Files #13 Interview,Jan.2018

https://ibb.co/r2SvbBP

..

“I don’t read that stuff, I haven’t read any of the novels. I don’t know anything about that world. That’s a different world than my world. But I do try and keep it consistent. The way I do it is they have a Star Wars encyclopedia. So if I come up with a name or something else, I look it and see if it has already been used. When I said other people could make their own Star Wars stories, we decided that, like Star Trek, we would have TWO universes: My Universe and than this other one. They try to make THEIR universe as consistent with mine as possible, but obviously they get enthusiastic and want to go off in other directions.”

~ George Lucas Starlog Magazine Interview, 2005 – https://ibb.co/Km1CcNs

..

“Lucas’ canon – and when I say ‘his canon’, I’m talking about what he was doing in the films and what he was doing in The Clone Wars – was hugely important. But what we were doing in the books really wasn’t on his radar.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Adminstrator,SYFY WIRE Fandom Files #13 Interview,Jan.2018

..

‘Q: ‘Hi Mr Chee! I’ve got a question about continuity – are all the various different media of Star Wars (the films, TCW, the video games, the EU) intended to form a single universe, or is the EU intended as a parallel, alternate universe? I realise that fans tend to each have their own personal preferences, but I was wondering what the official Lucasfilm company policy regarding this was? Many thanks!’.

“The dual universe question comes up often. I know George Lucas has mentioned it being two universes, but that’s not how I see it. His vision is definitely not beholden to ours, but ours is definitely beholden to his.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Adminstrator, Facebook chat, August 2012

https://ibb.co/7JX07GC

..

And what goes in the blank timeline spaces of the Film Only universe – can we never know the history or background of that Star Wars universe like we can in the EU Star Wars universe?

“Nothing. That’s why it’s film only.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Administrator for Lucas Licensing,StarWars.com, Jan. 2nd 2007

https://ibb.co/84z7rwM
—-

..

“I did not have direct contact with George about Star Wars continuity. Dave Filoni, who worked on Clone Wars, definitely did. So for me, the spirit of George’s work is what’s in the films, and it doesn’t go too far beyond that.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Adminstrator,SYFY WIRE Fandom Files #13 Interview,Jan.2018

..

“I didn’t have any direct contact with George about Star Wars. – I would see some notes based on the interviews or the meetings. But I did not have direct contact with George about Star Wars continuity.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Adminstrator, SYFY WIRE Fandom Files #13 Interview, January, 2018

..

‘Does LucasFilm Ltd. itself actually have a Canon Policy?’

“No. I’m not exactly sure what the existence of such a thing would actually mean. Beyond the merchandise and online, I don’t see how or where it would be applied. It’s not like there’s a document that exists that says “these are the things that are canon” that everyone in the company can look at.”

Leland Chee, Holocron Continuity Database questions Forum, SW.com., 2005

https://ibb.co/9y1yLmx

“I guess you could say there’s an “in George’s head at any given point in time” canon, which no one besides George knows. But you have to remember that this canon is constantly changing in his mind. If it weren’t, George would never have needed to write second drafts to any of the scripts. Nor would you see changes to the films for versions after their original theatrical release.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Administrator, StarWars.com., 2005

https://ibb.co/Xp0yNBT

..

‘Sorry Tasty [Leland Chee], a rather long and boring question about continuity, canon and the Holocron…

Much earlier this year, I participated in a debate in the Can We Get “The Canon Argument” Out of the Way Now… thread on this board and had a long discussion with another poster on the canonicity of the EU.

The poster had argued that based on George Lucas’s quotes in Cinescape in July 2002 and in Starlog in August 2005, where he mentions the films and the EU and films being “two separate worlds” and the EU being a “parallel universe”, that there are officially two different Star Wars universes or continuities:

– George Lucas’ Star Wars universe, which is the ‘real’ Star Wars universe, consisting of the 6 Star Wars movies and only those films; the stories set out in the EU do not happen, nor are a part of that universe or story.
– The Expanded Universe’s Star Wars universe, which is not the same as the ‘real’ Star Wars universe, but is it’s own spin-off universe based on it; it does not reflect George Lucas’ vision of the story of what ‘really happens’ in Star Wars.

https://ibb.co/jZbDXnM

When I mentioned your statements about the different canonicity levels in Star Wars, he argued that they were only applicable to the EU Star Wars universe, and didn’t apply to George Lucas’ Star Wars universe. Further more he posited that since Lucas Licensing and LucasFilm Ltd are separate entities, that the statements of Lucas Licensing employees do not and cannot override George Lucas’ quotes, or the quotes of LucasFilm Ltd employees, since Lucas Licensing cannot know or comment accurately about the policies of LFL.

I on the other hand argued that there was only one official Star Wars universe or continuity, which is made up of both the Star Wars films and the EU and contains materials of different levels of canonicity as described in your blog. I contended that the quotes of Lucas where he mentions “two worlds” were not supposed to be taken literally; he was describing how his work on the films was ‘his world’ and he didn’t get involved in the EU which was ‘a separate world’.

Additionally, I argued that LucasFilm Ltd and Lucas Licensing, being divisions of the same company, worked together closely and thus each division was aware of and could comment with accuracy on the policies of the other.

I was wondering which of our arguments were correct? Or are we both off the mark in some way? Many thanks!’

a rather long and boring question about continuity, canon and the Holocron…

“The only relevant official continuities are the current versions of the films alone, and the combined current version of the films along with whatever else we’ve got in the Holocron. You’re never going to know what George’s view of the universe beyond the films at any given time because it is constantly evolving. It remains elastic until it gets committed to film or another official source. Even then, we know there’s always room for change. Though the Holocron is maintained by Licensing, it is utilized by folks throughout all the Lucas companies.”

Leland Chee, Continuity Database Administrator,StarWars.com, Dec.6th 2006

https://ibb.co/VmPN1fr