Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (project)
After the "Unleashed" franchise was discontinued following Disney's decision to refresh the "Star Wars" canon in favor of producing a sequel trilogy, Sam Witwer, Marek's voice actor, revealed that Dave Filoni, the creator of the "Star Wars Rebels" animated series, considered bringing Marek back into the new canon and having him appear in that series, but ultimately decided against it because he could not find a way to do so without compromising either the new canon's quality or the character's unique distinctions.
J. J. Abrams
On January 25, 2013, The Walt Disney Studios and Lucasfilm officially announced Abrams as director and producer of "", the seventh entry in the "Star Wars" film saga, which is a rival saga to "Star Trek" for which Abrams previously directed. Disney/Lucasfilm also announced that Bryan Burk and Bad Robot Productions would produce the feature. Following the news that he would direct "The Force Awakens", speculation arose as to Abrams's future with Paramount Pictures, with whom he had released all of his previously directed feature work, and which had a first-look deal with his Bad Robot Productions. Paramount vice-chairman Rob Moore stated that Abrams will continue to have a hand in the "Star Trek" and "Mission: Impossible" franchises going forward. Abrams directed, produced, and co-wrote the screenplay for, "", working alongside Lawrence Kasdan, following the departure of co-writer Michael Arndt. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opened in theaters on December 18, 2015. It grossed over $2 billion at the box office, making him the second director to make a $2 billion movie since James Cameron's "Avatar". Thefilm was considered too similar to the 1977 original "Star Wars]]" film, with many critics considering it a remake that is also a sequel. Despite the strong box office, and acceptance from the critics. The reaction of creator of "Star Wars", George Lucas, towards J. J. Abrams's "Star Wars" was similar to the one Nicholas Meyer would later express towards J. J. Abrams's "Star Trek" sequel, Lucas found himself agreeing with the critics who perceived "The Force Awakens" as too derivative of the original "Star Wars" trilogy, particularly the original film. During an interview with talk show host and journalist Charlie Rose that aired on December 24, 2015, Lucas likened his decision to sell Lucasfilm to Disney to a divorce, and outlined the creative differences between him and the producers of "The Force Awakens". Lucas described the previous six "Star Wars" films as his "children" and defended his vision for them, while criticizing "The Force Awakens" for having a "retro feel", saying: "I worked very hard to make them completely different, with different planets, with different spaceships – you know, to make it new." Lucas also likened Disney to "white slavers", which drew some criticism. He subsequently apologized for his remark. In 2017, Lucas described the sequel "The Last Jedi", as "beautifully made", shortly after its release. The comment was interpreted as Lucas liking the film more than "The Force Awakens", even if Lucas was never quoted as explicitly saying as much. The previous year, the Disney-produced "Star Wars" anthology film "Rogue One" had been released, and it was reported that Lucas also liked it more than "The Force Awakens".