We have another wild Star Wars rumor, this one about a “Lucas Cut” of The Rise of Skywalker. Why do rumors like this get so popular? We ask an academic.
Some weeks back, we wrote about a rumor from YouTuber Overlord DVD, who claimed he had sources who told him that Disney had plans to “erase” the Star Wars sequel trilogy from canon, with plot details on how the last three movies would be altered to bring them back in line with the rest before they were consigned to their own parallel reality, left there forever.
It was pretty wild stuff with no corroboration to speak of, but it caused a stir. Now, Overlord is back with a newer video claiming that there could be a “Lucas Cut” of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker coming.
Okay, first let’s go over what these rumors are, and then let’s take a step back. So according to Overlord DVD, Star Wars creator George Lucas may have somehow added scenes to The Rise of Skywalker, scenes that would help tie the trilogy together and help set up the reset Overlord says is coming. The result is the “Lucas Cut.”
The first of these scenes happens after Rey thinks she has killed Chewbacca following a clash with Kylo Ren. To quote Overlord:
"Rey is alone on the Falcon struggling with feelings of shame as anger threatens to lead her to the Dark Side, and she asks out loud, ‘Why is this so hard?’Suddenly, even though she is alone, she hears the reply, ‘Life is a struggle but in the struggle we become better.’Rey looks up and sees Anakin Skywalker standing right beside her. He is a Force Ghost.In this scene, Akakin reveals to Ray how the Emperor survived in Return of the Jedi and reveals information regarding the Veil of The Force and the Emperor’s Sith mirrors that allows him to access the Veil’s powers."
The Veil of the Force, by the way, is part of how Doomclock figures the sequel trilogy will be erased. So I guess they filmed a scene that set up the destruction of their own trilogy…?
Anyway, the second cut scene happens when Kylo is talking to a vision of his father Han Solo after he fights Rey on the fallen Death Star.
"In the Lucas Cut, when Kylo speaks to Han, he is joined by Leia, who Force projects herself into the scene.The two of them are joined by none other than Luke Skywalker.This is what ultimately kills Leia: Force projecting herself and Han to try and save their son.The result of this scene is finally, at the end, fans would have seen Han, Luke, and Leia reunited one last time, and this is what Kathleen Kennedy took away from us, if true"
That last bit…do you get the idea maybe Doomclock doesn’t like Kathleen Kennedy?
So, I don’t think we have to spend a ton of time debunking these rumors. They don’t really hold up on their face. They both seem pretty heavy on the fan service, and again, why would the directors plant the seeds for the destruction of their own work?
The bigger issue is that George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 for over $4 billion, with half in cash. He doesn’t have a say in how the franchise is run anymore, much less the ability to create a “Lucas Cut.”
The more interesting question to me is: why? Why do rumors like this have such a hold on some parts of the fanbase? Why do they crop up so regularly, and how do they get such reach?
Talking to Desert News, Syracuse University pop culture professor Kendall Phillips thinks rumors like this, outlandish as they may be, are a sign that a fandom is alive and well. “These rumors that you’re writing about, they become evidence, and the clearest indication that a franchise is alive,” he said. “It has not settled into some small corner where people are still talking about it on a Facebook friends group.”
That’s a fun irony, because according to folks like Doomclock, Star Wars is in such dire straights that it requires massive resets to save it. But according to Phillips, the existence and popularity of rumors on how to save it are an indication that it doesn’t really need saving. I don’t see Star Wars going away anytime soon. I mean, did you see how many Emmy nominations The Mandalorian got?
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h/t Comic Book News