If you have been watching my streams for a while, especially those of Star Wars: The Old Republic, you already know that I feel very strongly about this topic. The Star Wars films are right up there alongside the Marvel films in terms of current popular film franchises. It is one of the original behemoths in the film industry. And yet, when compared to many current franchises, like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars seems to have only a few films. This is however only due to recent developments in the film industry. Up until 2005, I would have considered Star Wars to be the largest film franchise, next to James Bond, consisting of 6 full length films.
Star Wars is not exactly new to spin-offs and an expanded universe. In fact, there are over 400 books set in the Star Wars universe. These range from comic books to children’s books to novels. And most of these are now considered non-canon. A shame too that so much of what made the Star Wars universe great for hardcore fans was kind of made irrelevant. Not just that though, but there are a number of video games in the franchise as well that regular fans of the films will never experience. So much story that really expands the world of Star Wars is locked away from people that simply don’t enjoy the mediums of games or books or comics. I myself know plenty of people that consider themselves huge fans of Star Wars, but don’t know anything about any of the characters outside of the 8 main films.
But in the last 3 years, there has been hope to delve into those stories that have yet to be told through the medium of film. I became very excited about the promise of these stories finally coming to the theater when Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was officially announced alongside two other films: the Han Solo spin-off film and the Boba Fett spin-off film. We know that the Boba Fett film has since been cancelled due to the box office numbers of last year’s, Solo, but I believe there is still hope for some of the best Star Wars films. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic released in 2003 and introduced the gaming community to the world of Star Wars during the era of the Old Republic. A year later, Knights of the Old Republic 2 released and continued to explore the world and expand upon the story told in the first game.
If you are unsure of what I’m talking about at all, let me try to set the stage for you, to the best of my ability. The Old Republic is set approximately 3,600 years before anything that we see in the films. In it, we experience the major conflict of the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic when they are both at their height. This means there is a massive number of those who follow the teachings of the Jedi and those who follow the teachings of the Sith. And not only this, but there are Jedi that follow the dark side and Sith that follow the light side. Never in the films have we had so many opportunities to delve into the true nature of the Sith or the Jedi. In the films, it is made very clear who are the villains and who are the heroes. But during the Old Republic, it is not always so black and white. Instead, you really get to understand what each side stands for and what they believe.
We are only recently seeing these ideas barely come into view during the last Star Wars episode (The Last Jedi). Obviously, the main point of the film was that the Sith are not always bad and the Jedi are not always good. Luke explains that the Jedi have been just as selfish and power hungry as the Sith, and this brought about their end. The only difference is that the Jedi require obedience and maintenance of emotions whereas the Sith are taught not to hide their emotions and do what they believe will bring about the best for themselves and those they care about. And again, these are the ideas that live at the forefront of the stories told in the Old Republic.
Seeing how split the Star Wars fanbase seems to be at this moment brings uncertainty in what exactly we will see next. But I highly doubt that Disney is in a position where they want to just do away with Star Wars. There is still a fan base for the animated Star Wars (The Clone Wars and Rebels) as well as the games. Even Star Wars: The Old Republic (the current MMO) is doing rather successfully and continues to release content somewhat regularly. And especially with the question of what stories will be told after the sequel trilogy, now seems a good time for Disney to consider delving into this era in the Star Wars universe. Not that they need to take directly from stories that have been told or even should, but simply exploring this time period would be a great place for them to start when searching for stories. I mean, anyone who has played Knights of the Old Republic already knows the incredible plot twist, so it may not be all that great to reuse that in a film.
But what are your thoughts about this? Would you like to see a Star Wars film set in the era of the Old Republic? Let us know in the comments or on social media where you think Star Wars should move to in the films now that its future is in question.
Edited by Rachel Williams
