I may be mistake, but off the top of my head, wasn't the opera scene shot during the two-weeks of additional photography? I assume that Stoppard did a polish of the shooting script used during principal photography. Therefore, Lucas wrote the opera scene himself after that.

It's a belief that's so divorced (pun intended) from reality that even in Vice's documentary series Icons Unearthed about the making of Star Wars includes Marcia Lucas herself clarifying that this rumour is ridiculous and untrue.

It seems to me that most film pundits are too focused on what they want to see or what they think something should be instead of judging it for what it is.

I also forget that veteran DC animation/comic writer Paul Dini(who also created Harley Quinn) wrote S2 TCW episodes featuring Satine and Cad Bane and has never worked on SW since then. Back in the early 80's, he worked on the Droids/Ewoks animated shows.

Ultimately.. it could still come down to the show runner and other leading producers. I think the animated shows(specifically TCW and Rebels) benefited from having staff and recurring writers who were notable veterans of animated TV.

.. plus, not to sound like a angry hater(although some are going to label you no matter what), JJ's work feels very shallow all about looking and sounding like Star Wars, but not using it to have much to say. Not the best approach to both start and end a new trilogy, IMO.

of new films, plus animation, TV, books, comics etc. I know many claim The Clone Wars series "redeemed" the PT, but I'll always argue that show benefited tremendously from all the world-building and iconography already created by the PT that they could hit the ground running story wise immediately.🤷‍♂️

I am thrilled though that new generations of fans will get to experience ANH on the big screen. It’s how I fell in love with SW in 1997

Maybe give it a February release date to tie in with Valentine’s Day(since a major plot point of the movie is the Anakin/Padme romance) or in September/October

Danny DeVito must play Mr. Spacely.