Has anyone heard the rumors about episodes 7 8 9 being made in the future. A friend said he saw a discussion on it in a gaming mag for it recently and am waiting for him to bring it in so I can read it to double check it (he gets a little confused at times and isnt so bright),

This rumour is nearly as old as the original trilogy, and George Lucas himself has denied it several times. Apparently, so the story goes, when George first wrote Star Wars, he envisioned his tale as comprising nine chapters. When he decided to actually turn his idea into movies, he opted to bring the middle three to the screen and we got the original Star Wars trilogy. However, because this was to be a story that focused on the rise and fall of his main character, Anakin Skywalker, he did not feel the tale was complete without showing what he was like before Darth Vader. Thus we were eventually given the second trilogy, which was actually the beginning (sorry for stating the obvious.) Amidst all this, people always wondered if he would complete his original plan, and make the last three movies, but George went on to say that he had no intention of filming them, and never did, but rather that he had written them more for his own sake of completion. Moreover, since the main protagonist of Anakin/Vader is now dead, he feels the story is pretty much done. He's been asked a ton of times by fans, and the answer has always been the same: no.

Furthermore, the original actors are way too old for a set of sequels, or at least a set of sequels that directly followed the originals. Sure Harrison Ford can still play Indiana Jones in the upcoming fourth movie in that series, but having Hamil, Fisher, and Ford come back for more Star Wars would be on the level of a divine miracle at this point, not to mention getting Lucas to actually get a script going. It's not going to happen, and fans ought to really lay this ghost to rest. If you want to know what happens after 'Return of the Jedi', I would recommed picking up Timothy Zahn's excellent novel trilogy that begins with 'Heir to the Empire' and is not only officially approved by Lucasfilm, but was scrutinized and given the ok by George Lucas himself before publication. This is about as close to Episodes 7-9 as we will ever get.

Lucas is currently producing another two Star Wars series, one being animated, and the other live-action, but they include none of the main characters we know, and focus on the time between the first two trilogies and have nothing to do with latter stories.

The only thing I might add to amplify Val's excellent answer is that St. George the Revisionist denies ever having said there would be a third trilogy, set after the events of ROTJ. He claims the media made it up.