The Future of Star Wars video by WDW Pro, featuring Echo Base Network and Lorn Conner, has created a flurry of discussion on line. Let’s dive into one reader’s awesome thoughts.
Recent Rumors concerning the future of Star Wars and the potential return of Rey “Skywalker” in the post-sequel trilogy era have led to a flood of comments from readers and watchers of the site. In this article, Lorn Conner responds to long-time reader vjeko1701 as he speculates on a possible path forward.
Note: Recently I’ve received some criticism regarding my takes on the rumors we discussed on the possible future for the Star Wars franchise. I wanted to take a moment to address those before responding to the guest commentary below to hopefully clarify my own position so that the lens I interpret things through is a little more clear.
My opinions are my own, and don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial staff, writers, or other readers. I am not a scooper and do not have any inside sources myself – my job here is to provide commentary, speculative interpretation, and criticism.
Part of the commentary I have received is related to my advocacy to the old EU, which some have rightly pointed out is not “canon”, and that I am cherry picking certain story points while ignoring others.
The reasons for this are many, but primarily relate to the following:
1. I believe Star Wars would not have become the evergreen property it became had the revival not begun with the release of the Thrawn Trilogy and other spin-off material. It would still be the first blockbuster, historically significant, and important – but smaller, and with a limited shelf life. Even if new movies had manifested, casual moviegoers and a niche of hardcore fans could not keep the money train rolling without additional spinoff material and merchandise between movies. (See the Long Tail theory of marketing for more.)
2. The entire EU could not be adapted for various reasons – even adaptations we would like to see would necessarily have to be cut down due to the average running time of a movie or patience of a TV audience. Different mediums necessitate different takes that are appropriate to the medium. Also, it is difficult to attract writers/directors/actors if they are constrained by other material. That’s why my commentary usually focuses on the early EU (specifically Thrawn/X-Wing/Jedi Academy) era. I love a lot of the other stuff too, but if we want more TV and movies, any EU adaptation into other mediums would necessarily have to be the transitional era before a new stable of characters can be developed.
3. Lucasfilm (including George Lucas) cherry-picked material from the EU to formally recognize as canon. The most obvious examples are Dathomir/The Nightsisters, and later (under Disney) Thrawn himself. Even there, alterations were made.
4. Where possible, I would prefer to see the good things (IMO) that Disney has produced be retained, while blending with and being congruent with what had gone before the Disney acquisition. A successful post-ROTJ story in my mind must provide a satisfying coda for the original characters, set up a new Jedi Order from which new characters and storylines can be derived, and also provide a satisfying villain and conflict in a setting that is timeless – and more importantly, escapist.
With that in mind, here is my response to vjeko1701!
I agree that a Rey return and a retcon are not mutually exclusive. I believe Disney would prefer to have their cake and eat it too – leaving the sequel trilogy in a “pocket” universe that did exist but could be altered, hoping to appease both wings of fans.
However, any attempt to continue to promote Rey will likely alienate those who don’t already like her. It’s the old “you can’t put lipstick on a pig” argument – Rey herself is generally unlikable because they wanted to break storytelling tropes that are satisfying on an instinctual level. This is why surrounding her with more “popular” characters won’t fix her inherent flaws.
As to why Daisy would return – I think we as fans tend to forget that the actors who play these roles aren’t generally fans themselves – or even if they are, they’re fans in a casual way. They’re not familiar with the spin-off materials, minutiae, or trivia. They’ll likely have only a passing familiarity of the source material. They’re doing a job, and doing it to the best of their ability. I think Daisy probably did enjoy her time making the original movies (though perhaps not the reaction to them) – and a paycheck is a paycheck. Whether her role is to advance the sequel trilogy timeline or ultimately retcon it in some way, a movie keeps her name on the lips of powerful people in Hollywood, and would likely lead to future roles (and back-end points on whatever production comes about.)
I suspect any galactic level threat in this era would likely relate to the Gryssk rather than the Yuuzhan Vong, but as they’re filling the same basic role, the label probably doesn’t matter.
Investigating that she learns of the World between worlds and how Palpatine used it not only to save his essence (that was later transferred to the clone body) but also influence key events and people in order to create the series of events that led to the ST. Even though he was stopped, his influence completely destroyed the new Jedi order and the New Republic leaving the galaxy an easy target for the Vong.
I think the key question here is how Rey would learn of the World Between Worlds – the only people that we know have knowledge of it are Ahsoka, Ezra, the Ghost Crew, and Morai. The Emperor knew of it, and the Jedi at one time knew of it – but the temple on Lothal was hidden and the Jedi within dead for what looked like some time. I believe it was an artifact that the Jedi had long since forgotten about – well, except for Yoda.
The lead-in point I believe would have to be Thrawn, who would likely learn of it from Ezra and have his own designs on it, for his own purposes.
One of the key things Palpatine did was kill Ahsoka, Mara Jade and Ezra (maybe even Kyle Katarn) key people in Luke’s life and/or co-founders of his new Jedi Order and people she saw in her vision. Rey then uses the WbW and saves Ahsoka in the past and with her help they reach out to Luke in order to save the rest and prevent Palpatine from continuing his plans. These events would happen after Ahsoka s01 and Mando s03. Rey also learnes that her existence was also orchestrated by Palpatine so she is in conflict since changing that would cause her never to exist.
This is a fascinating idea, but one that I think would have to be tweaked for Disney to consider it. As of yet, Disney has refused to budge from George’s stance that attachments are forbidden to the Jedi. As such, I doubt they’d touch Mara Jade, not to mention Kyle Katarn. Ahsoka and Ezra would both definitely be on the table, and possibly even Cal Kestis.
The implication would be that they are not retconning or erasing the ST but that this is just a series of events that are a continuation of the ST that are crucial in order to prevent finally Palpatine’s plans and restore the proper series of events. Since in this original timeline, Rey never existed, she stays in the past a becomes an active participant in both preventing Palpatine’s plans and finding a way to prevent the dark future she came from.
From a certain standpoint, the main character (and also the only actor that is open to returning as her character) of Rey is preserved and the ST in not completely erased. That might be an important thing as a certain middle ground or compromise when it comes to people that have an interest in protecting that.
I agree that this is likely the red line for Disney – one way or another, some avatar of the ST will likely have to remain. Here’s an alternate take. At the end of *blech* The Rise of Skywalker, Palpatine says that he is all of the Sith, and Rey says that she is all of the Jedi. Palpatine also said that if she killed him, his spirit would enter her. What if Rey is now haunted by ghosts of the Sith, hearing whispers at the edge of hearing, and causing her eyes to turn Sith-y when she grows irritated at the constant psychic assault? What if her impetus to undo her past is to rid herself of the ghosts of the Sith? This gives her character a flaw that she desperately needs, shows her hubris, and might get some of her detractors onboard if some credence to the Rey/Palpatine theory is given.
(I argue for Ghosts of the Sith here because Jedi retaining their identity long after their deaths has never made a lot of sense. This is one thing Zahn got VERY right – Ben needed to fade away so that Luke can’t use him as a crutch – and the conceit of the Jedi is that they achieve immortality by not seeking it. Ultimately, the Jedis purpose is to fade into the the Living Force. Only a Sith would attempt to bind themselves to to a person or object perpetually to avoid losing their identity into something greater than themselves.)
On the other hand, you have just opened up the future of the Mando/Ahsoka-verse, hinted at the things to come (the next trilogy could be the Yuuzhan Vong conflict in this restored timeline, something that would also be hinted on in the Skeleton Crew and Thrawn story in Ahsoka and Mando). Also, from Daisy’s point of view, you’ve just taken her character from the story that no one is really interested in and put her into far more popular and probably for her lucrative Mando/Ahsoka story.
From there, you can take the story whereever you want, you can cherry pick Legends and ST characters however you want. You keep something for the ST fans, do something everybody else wants and move the ST to an alternate timeline status.
Once more, this is my personal specualtion.
I appreciate the speculation and commentary! While this could be a middle path forward, I think part of the problem with retaining any part of the sequel trilogy is that it has to have happened at some point for Rey to even exist. Had the story been coherent within the Star Wars framework, that could maybe work. The issue is the nonsense that was introduced in the sequel trilogy that outright broke established rules – the Holdo maneuver, Hyperspace Skipping, and Jake Skywalker being just three crucial examples.
I believe this is why an absolutely clean break is necessary – unfortunately, I believe the ship has sailed. Disney had a window of opportunity to correct their mistakes, and they have already overshot it. Any attempt to move Rey into the future (or the past!) will be doomed.
For more great content such as this, as well as reading a site that takes your comments to heart, keep checking out That Park Place. As always, drop a comment down below and continue to let us know what you’re thinking!
