The data is coming in from the last seasons of The Book of Boba Fett, and while we’ll have to wait a while for the Nielsen statistics, there’s a pattern worth recognizing. I won’t post a Google Trends chart this week: we’ve had issues with those embedded charts not playing nice with Apple devices. But I will relay to you what I’m hearing in the background, as well as what internet searches reveal.
On the night of the finale for Season 1, The Book of Boba Fett generated a massive online interest spike. However, unlike the episode before it, the interest quickly dropped and then was followed the next day be far less interest. This was a 180 degree change from the episode in which Luke Skywalker appeared and trained Grogu. When that episode appeared, interest was huge, but the next day it eclipsed the opening day. This indicated that The Book of Boba Fett episode which featured seconds of Boba Fett, but had long stays with Luke Skywalker, was tremendously successful. It was so successful that a source we’ve trusted and been right with in the past told us it looked like the episode had tripled the 24-hour ratings of the other episodes before it.
If it is true, then, that the finale of The Book of Boba Fett jumped out with incredible interest which then fell to 59% interest the following day, it would seem to signal that there’s something about Luke Skywalker in the form of the original trilogy that drives the market. The character drives the market in a way that no other Star Wars character does.
The Book of Boba Fett Finale Interest
The problem for The Walt Disney Company is that either they, or their studio Lucasfilm, seem to be hellbent on making sure not to deliver that character to the market. From a money standpoint, it’s baffling. Clearly, a Luke Skywalker live action series would be expensive to produce due to the need for deep fake and CGI technologies. But likewise, it is almost certain to make money rain inside the halls of Burbank. It’s quite the conundrum to figure out why a company would not want to make money when the market is speaking so loudly, but that’s the situation with Disney.
If Luke Skywalker is so ridiculously popular, and he most certainly is, then why did The Last Jedi lose money as compared to The Force Awakens? Why did it open just as strongly, then taper off? And if this version of Luke Skywalker we’ve seen in the Favreau-Filoni Disney+ series is so popular that he drives episodes he appears in beyond anything else on any streaming platform anywhere, why is this not the version of Luke Skywalker we’re getting?
No, instead, Disney seems determined to revisit, re-explain, and return to the version of Luke Skywalker that Mark Hamill famously called “Jake”. But why would a company do this if they will lose billions upon billions of dollars in doing so? I understand that Disney had a great last quarter, but I don’t see how it is sustainable if your business’ value is predicated on a streaming viewership bubble and gouging your theme park guests under the belief they won’t catch on. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think so because I don’t take a pessimistic view of the consumer.
What Disney and Lucasfilm are getting wrong about Luke Skywalker is that they are treating him as if he is just any old character in a fictional world. But that’s wrong. They have failed to understand that what drove Star Wars into being the biggest franchise on the planet (once upon a time) is that Luke Skywalker is an archetypal persona. In the first film, he is the naïve youth who faces evil with optimism but faces unexpected loss as a result. In the second, he represents the revelation that everything is touched by malevolence and sin, right down to his father and his own ability to turn to darkness. And in the third act, Luke Skywalker is the mature warrior who puts down his sword to redeem the the sins of his father even at the potential cost of his own self. It’s an archetype story of good and evil, redemption and sacrifice.
That’s why you can’t strip Luke down into being a hermit or a failure without seriously damaging everything about the franchise. When Luke sends a child back into a warzone (Grogu), it damages the archetype. When Luke makes Grogu choose between personal relationships and the higher good, this is a false dichotomy that the Luke of the original trilogy (the Luke the market wants) did not accept. When Luke attempts to kill his own nephew because he senses darkness, it is as if the franchise is urinating on its own narrative.
The market wants Luke Skywalker as the archetypal hero. There’s no doubt about it. Maybe the audience would tire of it, but hey, we’re how many decades from 1977 and Luke Skywalker still sends ratings off the charts. For the folks at Lucasfilm and Disney, they have to reconcile with what the market, what the culture wants. If they choose to keep the original version of Luke’s persona from the marketplace, they will be punished. If they bring back the beloved archetype of Luke, they will flourish. To bring back Luke, however, Disney and Lucasfilm will have to somehow set aside their own hubris.
Let us know what you think in the comments below. Do you want to see Luke Skywalker in his Return of the Jedi form, or are you keen on The Last Jedi destination? And, as always, keep checking out That Park Place for all the latest news, rumors, rants, and opinions on Star Wars!
IF Chapek really meant what he said about not fighting the consumer, we will get more Luke and Jake will fade away. The issue I see is CGI vs someone like Sebastian Stan.
Let’s not sugar coat it, the Luke Skywalker problem was created by Favreau and Filoni. I am starting to be increasingly convinced they don’t understand Luke either and don’t have a plan as to what they should be doing with him. If they are under pressure by Disney/Lucasfilm to reconcile Luke with Jake then the common sense thing is to feature Luke less, not more. Otherwise there’s no reason to differentiate the terrorist from the ones who assist with the terrorism.
If Lucasfilm/Disney really wanted a Luke series they could have one easily. All they need to do is cast Sebastien Stan who looks just like a young Mark Hamill and who had already said he’d be interested. Plus he has already worked with Disney/Marvel in the role of Winter Soldier.
Their decisions are interesting. I was expecting Luke to train Mando on how to use the Dark Saber. Not send Grogu back to Mando. Obviously Jake Skywalker is franchise poison but it is very unclear where they are going with this. I am starting to get bored of waiting for a clear direction. A new direction that I am interested in would be fine. Like a good depiction of Rogue Squadron and Corran Horn. Or Cal Kestis coming to live action or animation. As it is I am glad I have no grand children who want to go to Disney World it is going to take years before I feel good about Disney again.
Favreau and Filoni are a product of the original Extended Universe and George Lucas influence. They know the depths of the original canon, and they continue to dip into it. Luke Skywalker started a Jedi Academy. He studied the ancient Jedi scrolls and created a new Jedi Order. The scrolls he studied lead him into teaching the old ways, not the slack ways in which he learned. He was relatively old, when he was taught, and he didn’t get nearly the amount of training that Anakin did, who was also considered too old to begin his studies.
So… when he begins his school, he tries to do it right, based on the original teachings. That’s why the choice he gave Grogu makes sense, versus what the majority of movie fans wanted to see. They wanted Luke (and I appreciate this) to feel sympathetic with Grogu, since he had gone through the same or similar experiences as him, having been given a choice to either finish his studies or save his friends.
That said, Luke didn’t have any other students, yet… so why not aid him and then get back to it, unless he was awaiting others to join him? He does fully trust R2, though, so I can understand putting Grogu in R2’s “hands,” to keep him safe.
Either way… we have two (or even three) sets of fans that LucasFilm are trying to cater to.
1. The fans of the Original Trilogy/Prequel Trilogy.
2. The fans of the original EU canon.
3. The fans of the Sequel Trilogy.
The depths of the original EU canon is very expansive. From the hundreds of books, to the hundreds of comics, dozens of games, etc… there’s a lot of coverage. Filoni & Favreau are a products of that and they’re trying to pull from them and please the OT/PT/ST fans, as well. Maybe they’re failing… Maybe they’re pleasing everyone at different times, so it seems like there’s no synergy. Either way, they need to find their footing, moving forward, because it’s obvious that there’s a divide within a divide. No longer is it fans of the OT/PT vs fans of the ST… but it’s fans of the OT/PT vs fans of Mando/BOBF vs fans of the BOBF vs fans of the ST, etc…
Everyone’s happy and no one’s happy. Good times.
Want to please everyone? It’s simple really, just tell a good story. Which is why F&F and Lucasfilm would be wise to ignore the fans of the sequels and BoBF; these people are fans of objectively bad stories. There is nothing wrong about being one, lots of bad stories like Fifty Shades have huge fan bases. But no good will come from trying to cater to these people cause you will just be trying stories that cannot appeal to everyone.
Yet, you’re not getting praise by pulling from the original EU canon, from people who are OT/PT fans…
The Book of Boba Fett, for instance, does not have the greatest writing or direction, but it has a good story that ties the EU canon into the modern Star Wars Universe. You can say the exact same thing for the Prequels. George Lucas is a great storyteller, but a terrible writer and ineffective director. He even admits that he hates directing and working with actors. This is why the Prequels were the way they were, and why people can still love/appreciate them, but still dislike how they were produced.
Book of Boba Fett, to me, was produced in similar fashion. We received great elements and a fairly indepth story, with character building/world building/universe building, but it was written fairly poorly, and the direction was hit and miss. People can’t look past the poor writing/direction, and see the good story through the dust. These aren’t mythos-destroying episodes, like the Sequel Trilogy – not even close, and they pull in elements from the old canon, which should be appreciated by everyone, but it’s still causing divide.
I do think that some fans are so angered by LucasFilm and Disney, that they can’t see the good, anymore. After the Sequel Trilogy, the treatment of fans, the firing of Carano and promises that Kennedy would be gone, their view of Star Wars is tarnished, and it doesn’t matter what you’re going to get… they’re still going to see only the faults.
The whole situation is baffling. For the first time ever, the technology actually exists to depict a young, post-ROTJ Luke Skywalker. Adaptations of EU classics (like the Thrawn Trilogy), once thought impossible due to the aging actors, are now actually physically possible. And yet due to this Twilight Zone-esque ridiculous scenario, the creative powers that be are inexplicably reluctant to actually follow the obvious path of awesomeness due to some mixture of ego and politics.
Luke Skywalker is an Aspirational Hero archetype.
And in 2022 Hollywood is absolutely mystified if not outright repelled by these. Superman, Captain America, and Luke Skywalker all have to be deconstructed because 21st-century American writers aren’t good enough to do anything else with them.
Japan doesn’t seem to have any trouble with aspirational heroes. Look at All-Might or Midori from My Hero Academia. Genos or Munin Rider from One Punch Man. Tanjiro from Demon Slayer.
Take a real good look at Demon Slayer, Disney. You can only dream of Star Wars making $9 billion.
Captain america wasnt deconstructed…..
Did you watch What If?
Yeah is it because peggy carter became a super soldier is that it ?
I’m assuming that’s the argument, yes.
Well shoot I wish I would have seen this before I recorded tomorrow’s video on this very topic. Might try and work it in as a follow up ;-)
Jake Skywalker needs to be undone/forgotten if Lucasfilm and Disney want to keep intrest in Star Wars. Keeping TLJ isn’t even a option.
If you know the Star Wars train is going towards a ravine where the bridge is out in the future, why should Star Wars fans stay on it?
These D+ Star Wars shows are poo doo. They either act like a video game with side missions or emasculate another George Lucas’ Star Wars legacy character – Boba Fett. All programs on D+ is just like their Direct to Home Video movies of the 90’s with cheap production and/or storytelling.