By George Lucas secretly visited the Game of Thrones set in Belfast during the filming of season eight to chat to showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss, presumably about their upcoming Star Wars film trilogy.
"It’s funny because George came here and talked to the boys, and the one thing the Star Wars franchise has been missing lately is decent storytelling," Davos Seaworth actor and admirably blunt object Liam Cunningham told Entertainment Weekly.
"There’s a lot of brilliant stuff in Star Wars, it’s an epic franchise, but occasionally, story-wise, it’s left a little to be desired. Dan and David are brilliant at surprises and can transfer the demographic from this show to that [franchise]. They’re incredible at adapting a world and making it their own and they could add a layer of complexity to it."
That sounds like a very nice passing of the torch from the Star Wars creator to the men who'll take charge of his universe. But anyone who's bothered with the remastered editions of the original trilogy - or the American Graffiti sequel, or Indiana Jones 4 - knows Lucas is a born fiddler, unable to just let things lie. He needs to be involved. Having not worked on much for a while, he was probably bursting with ideas:
Have you considered adding five or six comedy robots?
"Kids love them. What about a little guy who trundles behind Jon Snow everywhere, and Jon's all like 'We must find more men or the forces of darkness will rule Westeros forever', and the little guy goes 'beep-boop awooooo' and Jon kinda smiles and goes, 'You said it, MP-341!' Heh heh. I'm laughing already."
Where's the trade negotiation?
"So, uh, you got some good stuff with the dragons, the thrones, the dead guys. That's cool, I like that. But, you know, it's the final season. You gotta get to the big stuff soon. What's all this war doing to the economic models of all these kingdoms? Are there import bans in place? Trade embargoes maybe? People are gonna want you to go out on a high, so work up some big set-pieces based around the implementation of incremental grain export sanctions."
More backflips
"If you're thinking, oh man, this character is kind of played out, I don't know what I'm gonna do with them next, don't worry. Yoda really opened up as a character to me when I had him do some sick karate moves."
This doesn't have to be the end
"Back in 1983, you know, I thought it was all kinda over, you know? No more Star Wars, I thought. But guys, you can just keep going. Keep all your notebooks, cobble something together based on your offcuts in 20 years time, see what Ewan McGregor's up to. Bish bash bosh. Can't be bothered? Two words: holiday special."
Is there any way we can work Warwick Davis in?
"I love Dinklage. Love him. Great guy. But it's not too late to recast Tyrion. Have you guys seen Willow?"
