George Lucas was warned 10-year-old Anakin would ‘destroy Star Wars’

George Lucas has said he was warned that including the character of Anakin in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace would “destroy” his beloved sci-fi franchise.

The Phantom Menace was Lucas’s first long-awaited prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy. Released in 1999, the film was received poorly by many critics and fans.

Now, the filmmaker has described the film’s conception in a new book, titled The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005.

As reported by Polygon, Lucas’s enthusiasm for a prequel was initially met with excitement from executives at 20th Century Fox film studios.