Mara Jade is one of the most popular Star Wars characters excluded from the official continuity. Now, writers working within Disney’s established timeline say Lucasfilm is not permitting her adaptation. While those comments apply primarily to the literary side of the galaxy far, far away, they reinforce a broader impression. Mara Jade appears to have little chance of making the jump to the screen.
Luke Skywalker Drinks Green Milk in Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi – Disney+
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When Disney acquired Lucasfilm, a significant portion of Star Wars lore was reclassified outside continuity. As a result, many characters who originated in Expanded Universe novels were removed from the canon. Some, such as Grand Admiral Thrawn, have since been reintroduced into the Disney Star Wars universe. Yet, for reasons that have not been publicly clarified, Mara Jade remains absent.
Mara Jade’s Legacy
Introduced in Timothy Zahn’s 1991 Thrawn Trilogy, Mara Jade became an iconic character in Star Wars lore. She was an Emperor’s Hand, an elite, secretive covert operative and assassin ordered to kill Luke Skywalker after the Battle of Endor. When that mission failed, her story followed a long redemption arc. Eventually, she married Luke Skywalker, and they had a child.
Timothy Zahn – Star Wars, YouTube
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George Lucas reportedly disliked the character. However, as a strong, deadly woman, some argue she would be a natural fit for Disney-era Star Wars. Taken together, it’s surprising that Lucasfilm does not include Mara Jade—an established and popular character—in its universe.
Speaking at the “Writing the Star Wars Universe” panel at MegaCon 2026, Star Wars: Bloodline author Claudia Gray discussed Mara Jade’s exclusion. “A couple of times I was like, ‘Really? Really, no Mara Jade?’ she said. “And they were like, ‘Nope.’”
Zahn, who was also on the panel, added, “I asked them too.”
Rumors, Casting Talk, and Fan Uncertainty
A rumor circulated near the end of 2025 that Amy Adams had been cast as Mara Jade in Star Wars: Starfighter. The idea was met with some hesitancy among longtime fans. While Adams seemed like a strong fit who could bring real gravitas to the role, questions quickly emerged about how the character would function within the broader narrative.
Ryan Gosling and Flynn Gray in Star Wars: Starfighter – Disney, Lucasfilm
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At the time, it was believed that Mara Jade’s story in Starfighter would intertwine with Rey’s. As one of the more divisive characters of the Disney era, Rey’s potential connection to Mara Jade drew skepticism from some Star Wars fans, who questioned how the two would share the screen.
While Amy Adams is confirmed to appear in Starfighter, which is currently in post-production, her role has not been disclosed. Director Shawn Levy was reportedly instructed by then–Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy to avoid using legacy characters in the project. Whether Mara Jade—who has never appeared on screen—would fall under that category remains unclear. However, given Lucasfilm’s apparent stance on the character, her inclusion in the film seems increasingly unlikely.
A Character Lucasfilm Still Won’t Touch
For now, it appears Lucasfilm has little interest in bringing Mara Jade into the current timeline. Despite enthusiasm from the writers who created her and the fans who continue to celebrate her, the character remains firmly in Star Wars Legends.
Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Lucasfilm
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At a time when the studio is selectively reviving elements of the Expanded Universe, her continued exclusion feels less like oversight and more like a deliberate creative boundary—one that not all fans will understand, or accept.
How do you feel about Lucasfilm keeping Mara Jade out of the canon? Let us know in the comments!
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This is a good thing! They will either ruin her by either miscasting her (the obvious thing they would want to do), or writing her so poorly she’s hardly the Mara Jade that fans know and love at all. She’d just be wearing a skin suit of the REAL Mara Jade. I say leave her to Legends and create your own terrible characters. Look what they did to Thrawn.
Don’t give them ideas. They probably forgot to race-swap her into some ethnic girl boss.
“Mara Jade is one of the most popular Star Wars characters…”
Who??? If I haven’t heard of her, she was never “popular”.
Dudes, this site will never be popular if you spout utter bullshit all the time, and I haven’t even got past the first line of the article.
What I really want to know is, why does this matter? Saying that an obscure character is “popular” not only leaves this critical question unanswered, but is… unconvincing.
“As one of the more divisive characters of the Disney era”
Divisive means to divide, to split. Rey Palpatine was not “divisive”, she is universally rejected. This site uses the word “divisive” to mean “universally despised”, an abuse of the English language.
An actual “divisive” character would be a “marmite” character, who is more or less equally loved and hated in the fanbase. I guess a examples of divisive characters would be various Lucas Prequel characters. Many were both loved and despised by the fans more or less equally (though there was often a three-way division, with the third category being, “meh”).
In the Disney Star Wars, the characters are hated. That’s not “divisive”, that’s utter universal contempt.
A counter example might be Darth Emo, a good example of a “Divisive” character who is loathed, but does seem to have a following who quite likes him (inexplicably). So, the overall fanbase is not as united about him. However, that fanbase is far too small to warrant a resurrection movie about Emo. Thank the gods, how drippy would that have been?
From my understanding…the more EU characters they use, they more royalties they have to pay.
Mara was very popular…so they are likely refusing to use her in case in leads to having to shell out the money.
Its for the better anyway…Luke is dead and Star Wars as a whole along with him.