A Disillusioned Star Wars Fan’s Thoughts on D23 2022

It’s been one week since Disney’s big fan conference to sit and chew on what Lucasfilm showed us. So what exactly did we get to keep enthusiasm high?

I was supposed to cover the Lucasfilm news coming out of D23 last weekend, but had to change plans to attend a Memorial. I was out of town until Sunday afternoon, and spent the rest of the weekend preparing for the upcoming week. It wasn’t until Monday that I was able to start looking into what happened over the weekend, and I took a few days to mull over my thoughts. Without further ado:

The Mandalorian: Season 3

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, the official Mandalorian Season 3 trailer was finally released. The Mandalorian has been the biggest bright spot in Disney Star Wars for me – it’s a show I have so far unabashedly loved, and the trailer promises to dive deep into the fractured Mandalorian culture. This is cause for excitement, but I found my reaction to the trailer to be a bit muted. The back-to-back failures of The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi have soured me pretty hard on anything Lucasfilm is currently producing.

Seeing Babu Frik in the trailer reinforces a fear that they’re going to continue to cling onto the corpse of the sequel trilogy. That I felt this way revealed to me how little attached I am to modern Star Wars now, which seemed impossible after the climax of Season 2. Pay heed, Lucasfilm. There are no more chances. You need to earn our hard-earned dollar. Hoping for the best, but no longer counting on it.

Andor

I did not enjoy the D23 trailer as much as I did the previous trailer, but that’s not really a knock on it. Andor is a series I was looking forward to since it was first announced. Rogue One is the best Star Wars movie that Disney/Lucasfilm have put out (in my opinion), and the idea of showing a gritty spy story at the dawn of rebellion really intrigued me. My belief has been that Cassian Andor is the Disney Canon replacement for the mercenary side of Kyle Katarn from the old EU, and the possibilities for storytelling are endless. It doesn’t hurt that the cinematography that we have seen looks GORGEOUS. Unfortunately, my anticipation for the show was dampened a bit by commentary from Fiona Shaw – my hope is that the show will be seeking to entertain all viewers and not drive yet another unnecessary political wedge into a fandom.

There’s also the danger of the show being a bait-and-switch – less a show about Cassian Andors journey, and more about Mon Mothma and the birth of the Rebellion. (Note: I do think both of these things should be explored in the show, and getting a more complete view of Mon Motha would be welcome – I think it would be nice for a Disney show to actually focus on its main character for a change, though.) Really, really hoping this show is excellent – but wary of its intentions.

Skeleton Crew 

Not much was given about Skeleton Crew, other than details that we already knew. The show will likely be in the vein of 80’s Spielberg, focusing on a group of kids lost somewhere in the Star Wars Galaxy. Jude Law will star, and a still was given showing Jude in foreground, surrounded by scanner eyes while his young passengers are in silhouette behind him. Really not sure what to think of this show, and that’s probably because we don’t have a lot to go on. I think it’s good that Disney is branching out and telling what seem to be some original stories, and I want to encourage them to continue to do that. I’m hoping that in the near future we’ll get a bit more background about the show premise and how it ties into the wider galaxy.

The Bad Batch: Season 2

Rumors had leaked about The Bad Batch: Season 2 launching at the end of this month, and fans had been trying to put together a tentative/unofficial release schedule that seemed to fit. It’s unclear if the leaked information was false, or if shows were pushed back for some reason, but the official release date will be January 4th, 2023. Clone Force 99 was introduced in the final season of The Clone Wars, and is a spiritual successor to that show. The episodes where they appeared in Season 7 of the Clone Wars were not my favorite, but the show was a pleasant-ish surprise. While many of the episodes felt like padding, this isn’t out of the ordinary for the Star Wars animated adventures, and the world-building that the “filler” episodes provide usually come back in important ways in later episodes.

The best parts of Season 1 for me involved seeing how the Empire is quickly trying to consolidate power after the execution of Order 66. The retirement of the Clone armies, the quick stand-up of the stormtrooper legions, and tantalizing hints of the Imperial Cloning project at Mt. Tantiss (as well as the fall of Kamino!) were highlights of the season. If the second season continues to explore these story threads, I think it will be a winner – especially if some of the slapstick is cut down and the show matures with its audience as The Clone Wars did.

Tales of the Jedi

I fear Tales of the Jedi may be a disappointment. Not because of a lack of quality storytelling or animation – because of the format. The show is advertised as six shorts, all launching on October 26th. The short form can mean anything from a few minutes to an hour, but my fear is that they will be a series of vignettes to fill in unseen story moments or important sections of character lives. Seeing more of Ahsoka’s and Count Dookue’s journey (as well as a young Qui-Gon Jinn) are enticing, but if these are on the shorter side, I fear the audience may feel cheated. Exploring these stories feels like they deserved something grander. Here’s hoping the episodes are on the longer side of “short.”

I will say – the exciting parts of the trailer for me are seeing Dooku and Mace Windu fight together, and the Inquisitor seen at the end deserves all the awards for design. I don’t know who he is, I don’t know what he’s going to do, but I know I already want to see more of him. Here’s hoping he somehow survives to antagonize Cal Kestis in Jedi: Survivor.

What WASN’T talked about…

The Book of Boba Fett: Season 2

There have been plenty of leaks that have come out that indicate we will be getting an announcement of The Book of Boba Fett: Season 2 sometime in the near future. Comments from Temura Morrison also show that he had some frustration with the first season and wants to get Boba “back to basics”, and I think this would be a wise move. The first seasons of TBOBF and Obi-Wan Kenobi left a very sour taste in my mouth – I ultimately felt that Obi-Wan was seriously canon-breaking for the entire series, but TBOBF actually made me angrier. Obi-Wan could be safely ignored, but Boba Fett felt cheated and cheapened.

Fortunately – I think there are a few ways that The Book of Boba Fett can be redeeemed. The writing team has to be absolutely on-point, but there are story threads in the first season that were left dangling that could form compelling story hooks and potentially clean up some ugly issues in the first season. Not everything can be fixed, but good will can be earned and the show can be turned around with enough care and attention. Hoping we hear something soon – I’d like to see Temura get to play the Boba Fett HE wants to see.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Season 2

Lucasfilm have dropped many hints that they are open and eager to produce a second season of Obi-Wan Kenobi. While I love both Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christiansen, let beg you Lucasfilm – please don’t. There’s no more story here that needs to be told, and you’ve done enough damage. Leave this series in the dust. We’ll thank you for it. Rogue Squadron: Rogue Squadron was quietly pulled from the release schedule after D23. While it was an open secret that the project was cancelled, this is the final nail in the coffin. While I call out the lack of cinematic releases down below, this is one cancellation that I think was the right move. Rogue Squadron should be a team-based story, and it would be wiser to place it post-Endor. This should be a TV series given an Andor-style budget. Here’s hoping it is resurrected as such.

Honorable Mentions

Indiana Jones 5

Harrison Ford came out to speak about the next Indy movie, and his enthusiasm and emotion were palpable. Star Wars may be my favorite movie series, but Indiana Jones is my favorite character and I am an avid fan and collector of both. Rumors surrounding Indy 5 have had me feeling hostile towards the project, but Harrisons emotion here got to me. I like James Mangold as a filmmaker, and I trust Harrison when it comes to Indy – but I continue to fear the influence of Kathleen Kennedy and Phoebe-Waller Bridge. Some of the costumes and concept art were visible on the show floor, and the concept art looks absolutely stunning. Here’s hoping this really is a fitting send-off for the man in the hat – I’d love to have one last rollicking adventure that I could proudly say is part of Indy’s story.

Willow

This one is REALLY hard for me to judge. The original movie came out in 1988, and I remember being very excited to see it, and going to the theater to watch it with my parents. I remember that one of the tie-ins I got at the time was a prize magic trick that came in a cereal box – a black and white picture of willow, then when taken out of the frame it was in turned to color. I enjoyed the movie, and probably saw it 2 or 3 times, but that was 34 years ago. Sadly, I don’t remember much about the actual movie, other than that I had a fondness for it. I know there were a series of books that formed a sequel sometime after the movie release, but I never got them. I believe this will be an original story, so those books may be deprecated as far as canon is concerned. If nothing else, the release of this new series may give me an excuse to go back and watch the original movie – it’s always fun to see a Warwick Davis performance!

Conclusion

My frustration with Lucasfilm and Star Wars has probably come through in this article. I feel that enormous damage has been done to the brand, and it may not be recoverable. The lack of cinematic releases is now really hurting the property, and the TV Shows while entertaining at times, also feel like an endless tease. A single creative vision is needed, and that creative force must be given the power to execute on that vision. The audience no longer has patience for endless hints of what may come in the future. We don’t want to wait for the weaving of the “Avengers” level event. It’s time to move forward boldly, without the crutches of the legacy characters and the excuses for previous failures.

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