OK, so we're still skeptical, but apparently the rumors about a pre-Episode I Star Wars film by Lucas himself somewhat have a leg to stand on. On the heels of the second weekend in theaters for the madly successful Revenge of the Sith comes loose talk from the creator himself about the future of Star Wars.

William Ellis chimes in with the first word on the subject:

Well, it surprises me that TFN and other sites didn't report what Lucas said at the 2nd session at C3. He was asked by a fan "Is there any chance of us ever seeing movies in the Knights of the Old Republic Era?"

His response? "Well, we have a TV series and an animated series and depending how those do, this is something we might someday visit ... but it's too far out to really commit to anything."

I posted on your forums and the official forums and it seemed to be ignored but I heard it, and 3 friends heard it and my wife heard the same thing. I know I wasn't imagining things.

Then Mark confirms the action with this follow-up:

Josh - saw your post on this and though I'd throw my 2 cents in...

Lucas, very quickly and very briefly touched on this in his second
presentation at C3. I think everyone got caught up in the TV news, but he did respond to a question about allowing other directors to make more Star Wars movies and commented that this was under consideration and that this era in particular was one that he had in mind. Nothing set in stone, but he did make it sound as if it were more possible than not.

Former TFN Staffer Chris also heard this quote and makes an observation about it as well:

Lisa and I were in the second session too. So was a friend of mine from Texas and she heard the same thing about an "old Old Republic" project being a possibility. But I wouldn't read too much into it: it seemed more like an idle thought that he was just bandying about after the questioner posed it to him.

Interesting. Again, don't celebrate just yet ... but anything is possible, which is more than we could say a week ago. Stay tuned.