Not content to gracefully head off into the Tatooine triple sunset with his billions of Disney dollars George Lucas is still insisting on contributing to the constant media speculation about the new Star Wars saga.

He’s now apparently confirmed in a just published interview that in fact final negotiations had begun with the main stars of the original trilogy to reprise their roles in Episode VII, even before he agreed to sell the franchise to Disney:

 “We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison–or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation. So I called them to say, ‘Look, this is what’s going on.’ ” He pauses. “Maybe I’m not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them…. I won’t say whether the negotiations were successful or not.”

Let’s just hope those negotiations went better than the ones between the Trade Federation and Queen Amidala of Naboo. Anyone who doesn’t understand that last reference is lucky. It means you’ve either never seen Star Wars Episode I: The Phatom Menace or that you’ve actually managed to entirely suppress your memories of Jar Jar Binks. Well played you.