President of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy has confirmed that the studio will not be altering George Lucas’ final cut of the original Star Wars trilogy.
Earlier this year, rumors swirled that a remaster of the original films would be coming to Blu-ray but further rumors suggested this was not the case.
During a chat with the Steelewars podcast at Star Wars Celebration Orlando, Kennedy was asked about the evolution of the classic trilogy over the decades and whether or not there was an agreement between Lucasfilm and Disney to keep the film’s in the current Blu-ray cut last updated by Lucas and released in 2011. Kennedy confirmed there is no actual agreement to keep the trilogy in its current form but when probed further about whether or not Lucas’ final cut of the original trilogy would be altered over time Kennedy assured that is something that will not happen:
“I wouldn’t touch those, are you kidding me? [laughs] Those will always remain his.”
While many fans would absolutely love to own a Blu-ray or even better a 4K version of the original trilogy, it is certainly understandable that Kennedy would be committed to upholding Lucas’ vision. It is a shame though, that fans who grew up with the original trilogy on VHS, Betamax, or Laserdisc will not be able to share the original cuts with their children when introducing them to the franchise — officially at least.
But even if Kennedy was interested in releasing an unaltered cut of the original trilogy, Disney and Lucasfilm would have to work together with 20th Century Fox who still owns the distribution rights to the original films until 2020 so it seems highly unlikely it will ever happen before then.
Stay tuned to Heroic Hollywood for the latest news on the future of the Star Wars franchise as we learn it.
Source: Steelewars (via Comicbook)
