Editing George Lucas (section)

===1993–2012: Return to directing, ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones''===
[[File:George Lucas Medal of Technology.jpg|thumb|left|Lucas receiving the [[National Medal of Technology and Innovation]] from President [[George W. Bush]], February 2006]]

Having lost much of his fortune in a divorce settlement in 1987, Lucas was hesitant on making additional ''Star Wars'' features.{{Sfn |Kaminski|2007|p=227|ref=kaminski}} However, [[prequel trilogy|the prequels]], which were still only a series of ideas partially pulled from his original drafts of "The Star Wars", continued to tantalize him with technical possibilities that would make it worthwhile to revisit his older material. When ''Star Wars'' became popular once again, in the wake of [[Dark Horse Comics|Dark Horse]]'s comic book line and [[Timothy Zahn]]'s [[Thrawn trilogy|trilogy of spin-off novels]], Lucas realized that there was still a large audience. His children were older, and with the explosion of [[Computer-generated imagery|CGI]] technology he began to consider directing once again.{{Sfn |Kaminski|2007|pp=294–95|ref=kaminski}}

By 1993, it was announced, in ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' among other sources, that Lucas would be making the prequels. He began penning more to the story, indicating that the series would be a tragic one, examining Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side. Lucas also began to change the status of the prequels relative to the originals; at first, they were supposed to be a "filling-in" of history tangential to the originals, but now he saw that they could form the beginning of one long story that started with Anakin's childhood and ended with his death. This was the final step towards turning the film series into a "Saga".{{Sfn |Kaminski|2007|pp= 299–300|ref=kaminski}} In 1994, Lucas began work on the screenplay of the first prequel, tentatively titled ''Episode I: The Beginning''.

In 1997, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ''Star Wars'', Lucas restored the original trilogy and made numerous modifications using newly available digital technology to bring them closer to his original vision. The films were {{nowrap|re-released}} in theaters as the "Special Editions".<ref>{{Citation |title=George Lucas On the Special Editions of the Original STAR WARS Trilogy | date=November 18, 2009 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm1zaTUnoTE |language=en |access-date=December 16, 2022 |archive-date=December 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215182041/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm1zaTUnoTE |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Star Wars – The Magic and the Mystery – Hosted by Howie Long – Fox TV Special | date=January 18, 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW5nMJ5gsQg |language=en |access-date=December 16, 2022 |archive-date=December 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221216070259/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW5nMJ5gsQg |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Brooks |first=Dan |title="All Films Are Personal": An Oral History of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace |url=https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-i-the-phantom-menace-oral-history |access-date=December 19, 2022 |website=StarWars.com |language=en |archive-date=December 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216130908/https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-i-the-phantom-menace-oral-history |url-status=live }}</ref> The trilogy received further modifications and restorations for DVD releases in 2004, Blu-ray releases in 2011 and 4K releases released in 2019. Additionally, Lucas released a director's cut of ''THX 1138'' in 2004, with the film {{nowrap|re-cut}} and containing a number of CGI additions.

[[File:Oliver Mark - George Lucas, Berlin 2005.jpg|alt=George Lucas liegt auf einem Sofa in einem Hotelzimmer mit einem Kissen auf dem Schoß.|thumb|George Lucas, Berlin 2005 (Portrait by [[Oliver Mark]])]]

The first ''Star Wars'' prequel was finished and released in 1999 as ''[[Episode I – The Phantom Menace]]'', which would be the first film Lucas had directed in over two decades. Following the release of the first prequel, Lucas announced that he would also be directing the next two, and began working on ''Episode II''.<ref>{{Cite magazine |magazine=Star Wars Insider |title=Star Wars Insider |issue=45 |page=19 }}</ref> The first draft of ''Episode II'' was completed just weeks before principal photography, and Lucas hired [[Jonathan Hales]], a writer from ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'', to polish it.{{Sfn |Kaminski|2007| p= 371|ref=kaminski}} It was completed and released in 2002 as ''[[Attack of the Clones]]''. The final prequel, ''[[Episode III – Revenge of the Sith]]'', began production in 2002{{Sfn |Rinzler|2007|p = 36|ref=rinzler}} and was released in 2005. Numerous older fans and critics at the time considered the prequels more mixed compared to the original trilogy,<ref>{{cite news |title=Star Wars – Episode II: Attack Of The Clones |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20020510/REVIEWS/205100305/1023 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |date=May 10, 2002 |access-date=December 30, 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504045357/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20020510/REVIEWS/205100305/1023 |archive-date=May 4, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_episode_i_the_phantom_menace/ |title=Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace |date=May 9, 1999 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=April 17, 2020 |archive-date=May 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515010020/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_episode_i_the_phantom_menace/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_episode_ii_attack_of_the_clones/ |title=Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones 3D |date=May 16, 2002 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=April 17, 2020 |archive-date=December 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218083931/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_episode_ii_attack_of_the_clones |url-status=live }}</ref> though they were box office successes and popular with younger fans.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars.htm |title=Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=June 21, 2012 |archive-date=December 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227194200/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2742257153/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars2.htm |title=Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=June 21, 2012 |archive-date=September 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190902041356/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars3.htm |title=Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=June 21, 2012 |archive-date=October 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191013021507/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars3.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 13, 2020 |title=Ewan McGregor shocked by Star Wars fans who prefer prequels to original trilogy |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/ewan-mcgregor-star-wars-prequels-obi-wan-series-disney-plus-b434088.html |access-date=December 20, 2022 |website=The Independent |language=en |archive-date=December 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220181241/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/ewan-mcgregor-star-wars-prequels-obi-wan-series-disney-plus-b434088.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2004, Lucas reflected that his transition from independent to corporate filmmaker mirrored the story of ''Star Wars'' character [[Darth Vader]] in some ways, but concluded he was glad to be able to make his films the way he wanted to.<ref>''[[Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy]]'' (2004). DVD. [[20th Century Fox Television]]. Event occurs at 2:24:45.</ref>

[[File:George_Lucas_cropped_2009.jpg|thumb|Lucas at the 2009 Venice Film Festival]]

Lucas collaborated with [[Jeff Nathanson]] as a writer of the 2008 film ''[[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]'', directed by Steven Spielberg. Similar to the ''Star Wars'' prequels, the reception was mixed with fans and critics alike. From 2008 to 2014, Lucas also served as the creator and executive producer for a second ''Star Wars'' animated series on Cartoon Network, ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 TV series)|Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'' which premiered with a [[Star Wars: The Clone Wars (film)|feature film of the same name]] before airing its first episode. The supervising director for this animated series was [[Dave Filoni]], who was chosen by Lucas and closely collaborated with him on its development.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-wars/20967/dave-filoni-interview-star-wars-the-clone-wars |title=Dave Filoni interview: Star Wars: The Clone Wars |date=October 17, 2011 |access-date=April 17, 2020 |archive-date=December 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227194204/https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/dave-filoni-interview-star-wars-the-clone-wars/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://sknr.net/2008/08/14/george-lucas-and-dave-filoni-talk-star-warsthe-clone-wars/ |title=George Lucas and Dave Filoni talk Star Wars:The Clone Wars |last=minshewnetworks |date=August 14, 2008 |access-date=January 23, 2017 |archive-date=December 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227194206/http://sknr.net/2008/08/14/george-lucas-and-dave-filoni-talk-star-warsthe-clone-wars/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcNXPNXOv2A |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/hcNXPNXOv2A| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|title=Dave Filoni Extended Interview – The Star Wars Show |last=Star Wars |date=August 12, 2016 |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/new-lucasfilm-animation-projects/ |title=Dave Filoni Now Overseeing Creative Development of New Lucasfilm Animation Projects |date=September 26, 2016 |access-date=April 17, 2020 |archive-date=September 27, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927123921/https://www.slashfilm.com/new-lucasfilm-animation-projects/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.monkeysfightingrobots.com/how-dave-filoni-redefined-star-wars/ |title=How Dave Filoni Redefined 'Star Wars' |date=December 11, 2015 |access-date=January 23, 2017 |archive-date=December 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227194152/https://monkeysfightingrobots.co/how-dave-filoni-redefined-star-wars/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> This series bridged the events between ''Attack of the Clones'' and ''Revenge of the Sith'', and featured the last ''Star Wars'' stories in which Lucas was involved in a major way.

In 2012, Lucas self-funded and served as executive producer for ''[[Red Tails]]'', a war film based on the exploits of the [[Tuskegee Airmen]] during [[World War II]]. He also took over directing of reshoots while director [[Anthony Hemingway]] worked on other projects.