The Future of Star Wars
Thinking about the news from Star Wars Celebration
Star Wars Celebration led with a bunch of news today: three new films planned, in addition to updates on current and upcoming series, and how they all tie together. I crafted a quick response podcast to this earlier today and thought I’d try to bring a bit more nuance in this post.
One of the interesting things is that Lucasfilm has now divided all Star Wars content into the following eras:
Dawn of the Jedi
Old Republic
High Republic
Fall of the Jedi
Reign of the Empire
Age of the Rebellion
The New Republic
Rise of the First Order
This….is a lot. And it’s a bit unwieldy, since some of the eras stretch thousands of years (Dawn of the Jedi, the Old Republic) and others last only a few decades (Reign of the Empire, Age of the Rebellion). It signals to me that there is still a bit of distrust between The Powers That Be at Lucasfilm/Disney and the popular audience. I get why they’re doing that—there are new movies that need to be introduced to the audience and there is probably a concern that casual fans might not understand where a particular story fits within the established canon. It also helps, I suppose, to reinforce extant material, such as some the very solid books being produced during the High Republic timeline, which take place largely in the few hundred years before 1977’s Star Wars.
While establishing a clear timeline probably makes sense, I don’t know if making so many and perhaps arbitrary signposts is necessary. After all, one of the most effective things George Lucas ever did was allude to the Old Republic: “For over a thousand generations the Jedi were the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. Before the Dark Times. Before the Empire.” Boom. Done. You’ve got everything you need to know. Galaxy in turmoil because 1) no more Jedi, and 2) the Empire is Bad. And you’re left wanting more.
Star Wars stopped trusting the audience somewhere along the way, choosing to spoonfeed its audience by showing too much (ex.: Boba Fett with Jabba in Star Wars) or with humor (fart jokes and Jar Jar Binks). We didn’t need a backstory on Han Solo either, and I think that’s why it failed. Telling too much takes away from the story. Han (like Boba Fett) needs mystery to be compelling. Tell too much and we get bored. So, while the timeline is alright, its multiple checkpoints are probably overkill. Besides, the American historians reading this would probably lump Fall of the Jedi to Rise of the First Order as some sort of Long Galactic Civil War.
One of the films planned is Dawn of the Jedi, to be helmed by director James Mangold. This is incredibly exciting for me. For the longest time we have been asking for Star Wars to finally move beyond the Skywalker Saga. It’s a big damn galaxy with an infinite timeline. Go play in it. And that seems like exactly what Lucasfilm is planning to do. This film, described by Mangold as a sort of “biblical epic” will follow the origins of the Jedi and their first connections with the Force.
I love this idea. We’ve seen this a bit in Expanded Universe books and other media, but obviously the first time on film. Mangold is probably the ideal person to direct the movie. He has an existing relationship with Lucasfilm and knows how to navigate their filmmaking processes. Plus, when given the opportunity, he can make compelling dramas. Logan is arguably the best comicbook film ever made (in conversation with The Dark Knight). 3:10 to Yuma is a terrific modern Western. Ford v. Ferrari is also where we can see his ability to drive narrative interspersed with humor in just the right spots. But I actually think where we might learn from him is actually the decent but flawed The Wolverine, his first foray into the mutant’s story. The film suffers from its rating (the story needed to be R), at times cheap effects (no one has figured out yet how to do the claws) and a weird final battle. But I also see in The Wolverine an appreciation for Japanese samurai culture (which heavily influences Star Wars) as well as the ability to stage exciting action set pieces (the train sequence is outstanding, as is Logan’s fight with Shingen Yashida). Further, I think Mangold’s meditations on life and death may nicely compliment the inward balance-seeking ways of the Jedi.
Unfortunately, this film is only being written now alongside another project Mangold is currently committed to: DCU’s The Swamp-Thing. So there’s no real idea as far as if or when we’ll actually see this movie onscreen. Other Star Wars projects have been canceled in the past, most notably Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron, but let’s remain cautiously optimistic for now.
Surprising everyone was the revelation that there will be a new film centered around Daisley Ridley’s Rey Skywalker. This will be set about 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker and will tell the story of Rey reestablishing the Jedi Order. Despite what I just wrote about huge galaxies with infinite timelines, it’s apparent that Disney just doesn’t know how to quit the Skywalker storyline. I’m ok with this, if only because Ridley’s Rey was a very compelling character in a very mediocre sequel trilogy. Ridley deserved more, as did we. Plus, there were a lot of people who were just horrible to her and her castmates. Ridley dropped off social media for a while as did others. I know John Boyega seemed to grow to hate his association with Star Wars and I can’t blame him. At the end of the day, these are just artists who are trying to create art to share with people. I’m not a big fan of the sequels, but I appreciate what they tried to do. I want them to succeed.
Further, now we have the opportunity to see what the Jedi look like after the Galactic Civil War. We saw a similar storyline with Kevin J. Anderson’s Jedi Academy series, which were set after the Thrawn trilogy (more on that below). There we saw Luke reestablishing the Jedi by scouring the galaxy for Jedi-in-hiding and other Force-sensitives. It was a set of novels that aside from relying on yet another ultimate weapon, was pretty compelling and ultimately enjoyable.
Will Rey keep to the old ways? Will Jedi continue to forsake attachments? One of my favorite Star Wars storylines is the tragic love between Ulic Qel-Droma and Nomi Sunrider, two of the most powerful Jedi of all-time. It’s part of the Tales of the Jedi graphic novels, one of the finest you’ll ever read.1 Will Rey find love? Will she be a parent? What of Finn, who could feel the Force? I am hopeful.
We’re also going to get a Dave Filoni-directed film that is supposed to tie up all the events of the “Mandoverse”: The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka. While Star Wars fans will likely be overjoyed at the idea of Filoni directing a big budget film, I’m probably most guarded about this one. My concerns stem from the presumed Big Bad of the film: Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Thrawn is easily the greatest villain in the Star Wars universe and if you’ve only watched watched the movies, you’re probably not familiar with him. He probably saved Star Wars as we know it. By the late 1980s, Star Wars was dead in the water. It had been years since Return of the Jedi, there were no new toys or series (lest we discuss the Ewoks tv movies) and George Lucas himself said he was all done making movies (though this did not stop him from producing Howard the Duck). Along comes Timothy Zahn, whose books Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command produced a defribrilation to the Star Wars universe. Zahn introduce Grand Admiral Thrawn, a calculating genius as the perfect foil to Luke, Leia, Han, et al. Star Wars was reborn. Within a few years we had the Special Editions, the Prequel Trilogy, and all the toys you could collect.
The problem with Thrawn is that he was part of Star Wars before Disney took over, meaning his storyline was retconned to the Legends storyline—i.e., it never happened outside our imaginations. But Thrawn is such a great character that he’s been shoehorned back into the current Star Wars canon, including six books, appearances in Rebels, and elsewhere. But the sequel trilogy brought back Shiv Palpatine with no mention of Thrawn, meaning that you’ve gotta put this conflict between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens without overwhelming either. Not easy.
And that’s where Ahsoka comes into play. Starring a perfectly-cast Rosario Dawson as the Togruta Jedi outcast, Disney announced this series coming this August. I watched the trailer no less than 45 times this morning.
I’m excited about this series. Obviously we’re going to see Thrawn, though we still don’t know who will be portraying him. I’ve said for years that Benedict Cumberbatch would be perfect, but Jason Isaacs would also be ideal.
One of the other exciting parts of this series is the introduction of Ray Stevenson as former Jedi Baylan Skoll. Stevenson has all the hallmarks of a classic villain: a gravelly voice and big, imposing stature. His character may be an attempt to sort of bring in the other Big Bad from the Thrawn Trilogy: mad Jedi clone Joruus C’Baoth. But he also reminds me of another character from The Old Republic game series: Emperor Valkorion.
And this is an inherent strength and weakness of the Star Wars universe. Despite the brilliance of the first three films, often the best Star Wars is found beyond the big screen. Think I’m kidding? Pause your read for a few minutes and watch the cinematic cutscenes from a couple of games below. I don’t need to provide context because it’s all right there. Enjoy, and then keep reading below because I still have to talk about Indiana Jones. But first:
Really good, right? Ultimately, I think this is something to be embraced. I’ve come to think that what people really like is the idea of Star Wars versus Star Wars itself. In fact, when you consider the upcoming Star Wars: Survivor along with things like Knights of the Old Republic or even Shadows of the Empire, we may have to admit that there are other, better places to look for stories beyond the big screen.
Indiana Jones
Finally, there’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Harrison Ford is 80 years old and if we count 1923 or Shrinking or his new role in the MCU as Thunderbolt Ross has exactly zero plans of slowing down. I, like a lot of people, thought that Crystal Skull was an absolute mess. I’ve been wary of a new movie. But this one, directed by James Mangold, has me ready to believe. For one, it feels like they’ve captured the spirit of Indiana Jones again. Crystal Skull suffered from the same problems that plagued the sequel trilogy: namely a distrust of the audience (nuclear fridge) and utterly misplaying characters. I don’t know who Karen Allen was in the last film, but it wasn’t the Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Further, Shia Leboeuf was either miscast as Indy’s son Mutt Williams, or the character itself was poorly conceptualized. Phoebe Waller-Bridge feels right. If the Indiana Jones franchise to hand off to her Helena Shaw, I think we are in good hands. Mads Mikkelsen looks to be a textbook bad guy (and I mean that in the best way possible). I don’t know if our favorite archaeologist will survive this final film, but I’m 100% along for the ride.
So in conclusion, there’s a ton to be excited about in the Star Wars/Indiana Jones universe right now, including a Star Wars-only podcast coming soon from yours truly. We’ll see you at the movies.
Alongside Obi-Wan, Ulic Qel-Droma is my favorite SW character. His arc is heartbreaking. I’ve been hoping for a feature-film series at some point and highly suggest you check it out.