Probably the most important and groundbreaking event in the history of war of stars The storytelling happened 10 years ago today. On April 25, 2014, Lucasfilm announced that the war of stars Expanded Universe was pushed aside. All future storytelling would be part of the same, coherent canon and the EU stories fans knew and loved over the years they would become disjointed “legends.”
You can read the official announcement with this link, and to do that with ten years of hindsight is kind of mind-boggling. In the decade since war of stars Fans have been so inundated with new stories, all related to one another, that we almost assume Lucasfilm had to make the conscious decision to take all of those previous stories, push them aside, and clearly define all of the stories to come officially were part of the same world. At the same time, it is expressly recognized that elements of the EU would, could and should be borrowed.
Two years earlier, when it was announced that Disney was buying Lucasfilm, and new war of stars Movies came, one of the first questions from fans was, “Are they just going to do a remake?” Heir to the Empire“That’s how popular these EU stories had become. In the decades since their debut, EU stories had essentially become a byword for fans. Even though much of what was written by different authors across different media wasn’t 100% consistent, that didn’t matter. The fans chose what they wanted to believe and all was well. This news made it clear that it would no longer happen. Episode VII wouldn’t be Heir to the Empire. Heir to the Empire was nothing. And yet now, ten years later, it somehow comes back, and Grand Admiral Thrawn becomes the big bad in a very different situation war of stars Story.
Another aspect to consider is that while this news gave the impression that there would be no limits in the future war of stars When it comes to storytelling, most of the previous storytelling has been largely contained. Some characters are older, some are younger, but from 2014 to the present very few stories have emerged from a period of about 100 years war of stars Story. That slowly began to change The High Republic in 2021 and now, this year, it’s finally coming to live action The Acolyteto cement it for everyone. But that’s a long time.
Basically, it took a decade war of stars to break out of its mold and embrace the kind of comprehensive, era-spanning storytelling that the EU offered decades before. This could continue to be the case if (and that’s a big if) when it comes to that war of stars Films) by James Mangold Dawn of the Jedi Film becomes reality. It’s almost as if in the ten years since the EU was wiped out war of stars has finally managed to simply start… redesigning the EU once again. (Fun side note: It’s been revealed In 2018, that was one of the reasons why all this happened because the EU killed Chewbacca and the studio didn’t want to make a new movie without him.)
Why did it take so long? war of stars thinking about going outside the box? Should we just be happy that it’s finally happening? One also can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Lucasfilm had gone the completely opposite route. What if there was no proven canon? What if we just got new ones? war of stars Stories like the EU? Maybe just the films could have been contained? You also have to remember that 10 years ago war of stars It would never have been plausible to become a TV-forward franchise, so that’s a whole different angle.
And while the discussion is around Star Wars canon, the Expanded Universe, and more rages, there is one fact we can all agree on. This discussion really took off 10 years ago today. Where will it be in 10 years?
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