Star Wars editor Marcia Lucas criticizes the sequels: "You don't get the magic of Star Wars"

Star Wars editor Marcia Lucas has sharply criticized the sequel movies.

"I like Kathleen [Kennedy, Lucasfilm President]. I always liked her," Lucas – who was instrumental in editing A New Hope – is quoted as saying in J.W Rinzler's book Howard Kazanjian: A Producer's Life (H/T Variety). 

"She was full of beans. She was really smart and really bright. Really wonderful woman. And I liked her husband, Frank. I liked them a lot. Now that she's running Lucasfilm and making movies, it seems to me that Kathy Kennedy and J.J. Abrams don't have a clue about Star Wars. They don't get it. 

"And J.J. Abrams is writing these stories – when I saw that movie where they kill Han Solo, I was furious. I was furious when they killed Han Solo. Absolutely, positively there was no rhyme or reason to it. I thought, 'You don't get the Jedi story. You don't get the magic of Star Wars. You're getting rid of Han Solo?'"

Harrison Ford's character was killed off in The Force Awakens, which was directed by Abrams.

Lucas continued: "And then at the end of this last one, The Last Jedi, they have Luke disintegrate. They killed Han Solo. They killed Luke Skywalker. And they don't have Princess Leia anymore. And they're spitting out movies every year. And they think it's important to appeal to a woman's audience, so now their main character is this female, who's supposed to have Jedi powers, but we don't know how she got Jedi powers, or who she is. It sucks. The storylines are terrible. Just terrible. Awful. You can quote me – 'J.J. Abrams, Kathy Kennedy – talk to me.'"

The female Jedi Lucas refers to here is Daisy Ridley's Rey, who was eventually revealed to be the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker. 

Lucas edited Star Wars and Return of the Jedi, and worked on The Empire Strikes Back as an uncredited editor. Her work on the original Star Wars movie earned her the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, and she was married to Star Wars creator George Lucas until 1983. She has also worked on films like George Lucas's American Graffiti and THX 1138, Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, New York, New York, and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and Michael Ritchie's The Candidate.

Meanwhile, the future of the galaxy far, far away seems to lie mostly on the small screen, with The Mandalorian season 3 and Obi-Wan Kenobi both expected to debut on Disney Plus next year, and The Book of Boba Fett arriving this December. 

While you wait, check out our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows.