It’s been a few years now since George Lucas announced the sale of the Star Wars ‘franchise’ to Disney. The announcement was met with worldwide acclaim; the statement of intent was made to say there would be a new trilogy of Star Wars films with the original actors cast to reprise their roles. We would also be getting spin-off movies featuring new side stories to enrich the Star Wars galaxy. Some fans, myself included, greeted this news with cautious optimism about what was going to happen.
Since then we have seen the latest episode in the blockbuster series that brought a shine back to the galaxy after the lustre left behind by the prequel trilogy. We’ve also seen the first Star Wars Story spin-off, which for me, was a cinematic masterpiece on every level! We now eagerly await 2 more films due for release in the next 18 to 24 months.
But I have stopped and asked myself a question, “what about the books, tales and stories that have been left behind?”
Hot on the heels of the box office success of the original ‘Star Wars’ movie in 1977, the Expanded Universe (EU) first started to develop. With the agreement for Marvel to adapt the film into comic book format and then to continue to produce a weekly adventure, the galaxy got bigger and quickly! This was then followed by the 1978 release of ‘Splinter of the Minds Eye’ by Alan Dean Foster. This went on to spawn well over 200 novels and when Disney announced the deletion of the existing EU timeline and all those novels didn’t sit well with me. They are now known as ‘Legends’. In some ways it still doesn’t sit right with me. Overnight the EU books, tales and stories were consigned to history. I like a lot of you, had spent many hours reading the varying tales of our favourite heroes and villains, some outstanding (and I felt were worthy of a movie in their own right), some good and some, well err… shall we just say, not so good?
Sadly for me, gone are the bird like Si-Ruuvi; galactic invaders, the Yuzhaan Vong; the all controlling, Dark Nest; the smuggler, Dash Rendar; flawed Jedi clone, Jorus C’Boath; Han’s droid, Bollux; the Emperor’s, Hand Mara Jade Skywalker; the space entrepreneur, Talon Karde; the Solo twins, Jacen & Jaina and Anakin Solo to name a few.
What have we been given so far to replace the characters, worlds and species in those books? Well, all you need to do is start reciting the ‘Personae Dramatis’ from ‘Episode VII: The Force Awakens’ and ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ and there is plenty to be going on with. In the written format we have been given the prequel era ‘Tarkin’ and ‘Catalyst’ titles, but more importantly the ‘Aftermath’ series has added depth to the transition of power in the galaxy from the events of Episode 6.
So far, the only survivor is a character who I deem to be the most popular and charismatic EU creation. He was created by Timothy Zahn and is known as Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn is a worthy adversary for anyone, so how could Disney delete such a character? I applaud Dave Filoni and the Rebels writers for resurrecting this unique character and portraying him exactly how I remember him when reading the ‘Thrawn Trilogy’. Unfortunately there are many more wonderful characters, species and planets that have been lost from canon, but for some of them is there a new hope?
For me where we will see the most significant developments is going to come from a visual perspective. The cartoon series of the Clone Wars and Rebels are now bringing a further dimension to the EU, but this is also being embraced in the new wave of movies. These are known as Easter Eggs, but for me these are a way of joining the dots and start my own imagination running wild as to what we could see or read next. Could we see some of these deleted characters, planets or even story lines reintroduced?
We’ve seen Ralph McQuarrie concepts come to life, even EU toys, so let’s hope that we see the odd ‘non-canon’ EU character, species or planet in forthcoming releases.
There are 5 series/books, which I think even though they are no longer canon and considered Legends that all Star Wars fans should take time out to read or listen to via audio books. These are;
- The Han Solo Trilogy by Ann C. Cripsin
- The Paradise Snare; The Hutt Gambit; Rebel Dawn
- Splinter of the Minds Eye by Alan Dean Foster
- Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry
- The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn
- Heir to the Empire; Dark Force Rising; The Last Command
- The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime by R. A. Salvatore
I think new fans will get a grasp of an alternate view of the galaxy or even a what if moment? For those of you like me who are ‘children of 1977’ (Those lucky enough to have seen Star Wars in 1977), you will enjoy them as a Star Wars story.
Here’s to there being many more cameos and Easter eggs in the upcoming releases, but please don’t forget the books on the shelves. Although they are now classed as Legends, there have been some wise words spoken by characters from the galaxy. Han Solo famously stated in Episode VII “It’s true, all of it!” and Ahsoka Tano once said in an episode of Rebels “There’s always a bit of truth in legends”. I think they know where I’m coming from.
One thing that is fact, it truly is an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan!
May the force be with you, always!