A head honcho at Lucasfilm took to Twitter to spill some info on an original working title for The Force Awakens, the latest movie in the Star Wars series — and it shares its name with a popular Expanded Universe story.
According to a tweet sent by Pablo Hidalgo, a creative executive at Lucasfilm who worked heavily on the prequel trilogy of the early aughts, the original title for The Force Awakens was Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire.
@VegaArts_ @justinlasalata it was Shadow (singular) of the Empire for a while.
— Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) December 25, 2015
Hidalgo was quick to point out to fans that while Shadow of the Empire was a working title, it wasn't the working title; the Lucasfilm exec noted that the film "had several" working titles before The Force Awakens made the final cut.
@ARRyan_writer @VegaArts_ @justinlasalata it had several. — Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) December 25, 2015
As IGN highlighted, Shadow of the Empire is also the title of an old Star Wars Expanded Universe novel by author Steven Perry, which might have made rights a bit of a dicey affair for the film company. Released in 1996, the book achieved popularity with EU fans, and was incorporated into a multimedia campaign that resulted in a video game, a comic book, and a series of action figures, according to the site.
@justinlasalata for longest time, the TFA title was the same as an old novel. Thankfully it changed. :) With so many books, it's inevitable
— Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) December 25, 2015
As Hidalgo himself said in a tweet, "Thankfully [the title] changed ... with so many books, it's inevitable."
Via: IGN
Source: Twitter
