The Star Wars sequel trilogy is nothing if not polarizing among Star Wars fans. Some love The Last Jedi and loathe The Rise of Skywalker, or vice versa. The one thing on which many Star Wars fans seem willing to agree is that the sequels never felt like they were following a cohesive, singular vision. The fact that so many previously announced Star Wars movies have either been indefinitely delayed or canceled outright doesn't exactly counteract the belief that, in the modern era at least, Lucasfilm lacks a grand Star Wars strategy.
But the good news is that Star Wars has found a second life on the small screen thanks to shows like The Mandalorian and the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series. A new Vanity Fair article offers a closer glimpse of what's to come in a galaxy far, far away, and even better, that article suggests Lucasfilm does indeed have a long-term plan, one where shows set in very different points of the Star Wars timeline all work as pieces of a larger whole. And it all ties back to one of the oldest themes in the Star Wars franchise.
Despite its name, the original Star Wars is fundamentally an anti-war movie at heart. George Lucas - a filmmaker once in line to direct the fervently anti-war film Apocalypse Now - explicitly wrote Star Wars as a critique of the Vietnam War and Western colonialism (in addition to it being a kids' movie inspired by Lucas' love of Flash Gordon and samurai movies, of course). The plucky Rebels are a guerrilla force resisting the much larger and more technologically advanced Empire, echoing both the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War.
"The irony is that, in both of those, the little guys won. The highly technical empire -- the English Empire, the American Empire -- lost. That was the whole point," Lucas said in a 2018 conversation with director James Cameron.
Lucas also used the Star Wars prequels to comment on the War on Terror and what he saw as the widespread erosion of democratic norms in the early 2000s. One could argue that this is a key reason why so many fans are beginning to reevaluate the prequels in hindsight. The prequel trilogy is ultimately about how a shining beacon of democracy becomes corrupted from within, and that message is still very relevant in 2022.
That theme of anti-imperialism hasn't been quite as evident in the post-Lucas era of Star Wars, though The Last Jedi does point out how the real villain of the galaxy is the military-industrial complex that profits off the endless stream of wars and rebellions. That's probably one reason why Star Wars has seemed to lack a cohesive vision in recent years. There hasn't always been a consistent, underlying message as we saw in the Lucas films. But now, this message of anti-imperialism may well be the glue that holds the franchise together in the years to come.
The Rebels are a guerrilla force resisting the larger and more technologically advanced Empire, echoing both the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War.
Leslye Headland's Star Wars series is mostly still shrouded in mystery, but we do know some important details. The Acolyte is set during the High Republic era, roughly 100 years before the Skywalker Saga. This is the same era that's been the backdrop of the various High Republic novels and comics, though those stories explore various facets of a conflict that unfolds about 200 years before the movies.
The Acolyte, by comparison, is set during a quiet, little-known portion of the timeline where the Jedi are unaware of the Sith secretly plotting to seize control of the Republic. The series will likely show us the early seeds that eventually sprouted into Supreme Chancellor Palpatine declaring himself Emperor of the Galactic Empire. As far as we know, Palpatine himself isn't around yet in the era of The Acolyte, but we could very well see his master, Darth Plagueis. Heck, Plagueis could be the "acolyte" in question.
Headland makes it clear The Acolyte will explore the same ideas and themes that were so integral to the prequels and the Clone Wars animated series. What happens when heroes become complacent and walled off from the rest of the galaxy? How can a mighty democracy be toppled from within?
"We’re taking a look at the political and personal and spiritual things that came up in a time period that we don’t know much about," Headland tells Vanity Fair. "My question when watching The Phantom Menace was always like, ‘Well, how did things get to this point?’ How did we get to a point where a Sith lord can infiltrate the Senate and none of the Jedi pick up on it? Like, what went wrong? What are the scenarios that led us to this moment?”
The Acolyte won't debut before 2023 at the earliest, but the Rogue One prequel series Andor is set to hit Disney+ later in 2022. This series brings back Diego Luna's Cassian Andor and Genevieve O'Reilly's Mon Mothma, exploring the early origins of the Rebel Alliance and how Cassian evolves from a cynical loner to a soldier willing to die for his cause.
“This guy gave his life for the galaxy, right? I mean, he consciously, soberly, without vanity or recognition, sacrificed himself. Who does that?” showrunner Tony Gilroy says. “That’s what this first season is about. It’s about him being really revolution-averse, and cynical, and lost, and kind of a mess.”
Andor probably won't share any characters in common with The Acolyte, but it too is a series focused on getting back to the anti-imperialist roots of the saga. Where The Acolyte explores how the idyllic Republic begins to rot from within, Andor shows the Empire at the height of its power, when that rot has fully metastasized. When the series opens, Cassian is looking out for himself and believes in nothing. By the end of the show (which may well run for multiple seasons), Cassian will have grown into a freedom fighter to rival Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.
The Vanity Fair story sheds light on yet another live-action series in development. Nicknamed Grammar Rodeo and overseen by Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts, this Spielbergian series is set after the events of Return of the Jedi and will focus on a group of preteen heroes on a grand adventure. The Grammar Rodeo name is a reference to the Simpsons episode "Bart on the Road," which may give us some idea of the plot. This reveal also may explain why Watts recently dropped out of Marvel's upcoming Fantastic Four reboot.
Grammar Rodeo is just the latest Disney+ series to be set in the post-Return of the Jedi, pre-Force Awakens era. Disney seems to have carved this period out as the next major setting for its Star Wars projects. Alongside The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and Rangers of the New Republic (the latter of which may be on hold), Grammar Rodeo will give fans more insight into what happened in that lost, three-decade gap between Episodes VI and VII. We wouldn't be surprised if a young Ben Solo and other members of Luke's Jedi Academy are the main protagonists of Watts' series.
Interestingly, the Vanity Fair article uses the term "reconstruction" to describe this time period. It's an apt word, as the leaders of the galaxy are busy rebuilding and trying to re-establish a true republic after more than 20 years of harsh Imperial rule. But much like how A New Hope was inspired by the Vietnam War, this post-Return of the Jedi era brings to mind the United States' Reconstruction era from 1866 to 1877. In both Star Wars and the real world, Reconstruction is the story of a government trying to rebuild a shattered economy, unify a divided population and determine how or even if former enemy combatants should be reintegrated into society.
In the real world, the collapse of the Confederacy gave rise to the Ku Klux Klan and an epidemic of racially motivated murders in the South. In Star Wars, the defeated Empire retreats into the fringes of the galaxy and returns decades later as the First Order. Thanks to The Rise of Skywalker, we know the broad strokes of that story. But with these various post-Return of the Jedi projects, it seems Lucasfilm is intent on fleshing out that conflict. These shows explore how the decisions made in the immediate aftermath of the Empire's fall wind up leading to the devastation seen in the sequels.
The Mandalorian is slowly shedding light on the fate of an Imperial-occupied Mandalore (another example of colonialism at work in the Star Wars universe). The Book of Boba Fett reveals the early origins of Luke's Jedi Academy and plants the seeds for his downfall as a Jedi Master. Ahsoka will likely focus on the titular character's hunt for Grand Admiral Thrawn, the one warlord capable of rallying the scattered Imperial Remnant. And Rangers of the New Republic - in whatever form it ultimately takes - will probably shed more light on how the First Order grew outside the New Republic's gaze.
There's a lot of Star Wars content in the works for Disney+. And even though these shows may focus on different heroes and villains and explore different pieces of a centuries-long timeline, they all contribute to something bigger. Star Wars always has been and continues to be a story about the importance of hope and rebellion in the face of oppressive, authoritarian power. It's refreshing to see that theme back at the forefront of the franchise.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Continue reading...
But the good news is that Star Wars has found a second life on the small screen thanks to shows like The Mandalorian and the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series. A new Vanity Fair article offers a closer glimpse of what's to come in a galaxy far, far away, and even better, that article suggests Lucasfilm does indeed have a long-term plan, one where shows set in very different points of the Star Wars timeline all work as pieces of a larger whole. And it all ties back to one of the oldest themes in the Star Wars franchise.
Star Wars and Anti-Imperialism
Despite its name, the original Star Wars is fundamentally an anti-war movie at heart. George Lucas - a filmmaker once in line to direct the fervently anti-war film Apocalypse Now - explicitly wrote Star Wars as a critique of the Vietnam War and Western colonialism (in addition to it being a kids' movie inspired by Lucas' love of Flash Gordon and samurai movies, of course). The plucky Rebels are a guerrilla force resisting the much larger and more technologically advanced Empire, echoing both the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War.
"The irony is that, in both of those, the little guys won. The highly technical empire -- the English Empire, the American Empire -- lost. That was the whole point," Lucas said in a 2018 conversation with director James Cameron.
Lucas also used the Star Wars prequels to comment on the War on Terror and what he saw as the widespread erosion of democratic norms in the early 2000s. One could argue that this is a key reason why so many fans are beginning to reevaluate the prequels in hindsight. The prequel trilogy is ultimately about how a shining beacon of democracy becomes corrupted from within, and that message is still very relevant in 2022.
That theme of anti-imperialism hasn't been quite as evident in the post-Lucas era of Star Wars, though The Last Jedi does point out how the real villain of the galaxy is the military-industrial complex that profits off the endless stream of wars and rebellions. That's probably one reason why Star Wars has seemed to lack a cohesive vision in recent years. There hasn't always been a consistent, underlying message as we saw in the Lucas films. But now, this message of anti-imperialism may well be the glue that holds the franchise together in the years to come.
The Rebels are a guerrilla force resisting the larger and more technologically advanced Empire, echoing both the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War.
The Acolyte and the High Republic Era
Leslye Headland's Star Wars series is mostly still shrouded in mystery, but we do know some important details. The Acolyte is set during the High Republic era, roughly 100 years before the Skywalker Saga. This is the same era that's been the backdrop of the various High Republic novels and comics, though those stories explore various facets of a conflict that unfolds about 200 years before the movies.
The Acolyte, by comparison, is set during a quiet, little-known portion of the timeline where the Jedi are unaware of the Sith secretly plotting to seize control of the Republic. The series will likely show us the early seeds that eventually sprouted into Supreme Chancellor Palpatine declaring himself Emperor of the Galactic Empire. As far as we know, Palpatine himself isn't around yet in the era of The Acolyte, but we could very well see his master, Darth Plagueis. Heck, Plagueis could be the "acolyte" in question.
Headland makes it clear The Acolyte will explore the same ideas and themes that were so integral to the prequels and the Clone Wars animated series. What happens when heroes become complacent and walled off from the rest of the galaxy? How can a mighty democracy be toppled from within?
"We’re taking a look at the political and personal and spiritual things that came up in a time period that we don’t know much about," Headland tells Vanity Fair. "My question when watching The Phantom Menace was always like, ‘Well, how did things get to this point?’ How did we get to a point where a Sith lord can infiltrate the Senate and none of the Jedi pick up on it? Like, what went wrong? What are the scenarios that led us to this moment?”
Andor and the Imperial Era
The Acolyte won't debut before 2023 at the earliest, but the Rogue One prequel series Andor is set to hit Disney+ later in 2022. This series brings back Diego Luna's Cassian Andor and Genevieve O'Reilly's Mon Mothma, exploring the early origins of the Rebel Alliance and how Cassian evolves from a cynical loner to a soldier willing to die for his cause.
“This guy gave his life for the galaxy, right? I mean, he consciously, soberly, without vanity or recognition, sacrificed himself. Who does that?” showrunner Tony Gilroy says. “That’s what this first season is about. It’s about him being really revolution-averse, and cynical, and lost, and kind of a mess.”
Andor probably won't share any characters in common with The Acolyte, but it too is a series focused on getting back to the anti-imperialist roots of the saga. Where The Acolyte explores how the idyllic Republic begins to rot from within, Andor shows the Empire at the height of its power, when that rot has fully metastasized. When the series opens, Cassian is looking out for himself and believes in nothing. By the end of the show (which may well run for multiple seasons), Cassian will have grown into a freedom fighter to rival Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.
After Return of the Jedi: The Reconstruction Era
The Vanity Fair story sheds light on yet another live-action series in development. Nicknamed Grammar Rodeo and overseen by Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts, this Spielbergian series is set after the events of Return of the Jedi and will focus on a group of preteen heroes on a grand adventure. The Grammar Rodeo name is a reference to the Simpsons episode "Bart on the Road," which may give us some idea of the plot. This reveal also may explain why Watts recently dropped out of Marvel's upcoming Fantastic Four reboot.
Grammar Rodeo is just the latest Disney+ series to be set in the post-Return of the Jedi, pre-Force Awakens era. Disney seems to have carved this period out as the next major setting for its Star Wars projects. Alongside The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and Rangers of the New Republic (the latter of which may be on hold), Grammar Rodeo will give fans more insight into what happened in that lost, three-decade gap between Episodes VI and VII. We wouldn't be surprised if a young Ben Solo and other members of Luke's Jedi Academy are the main protagonists of Watts' series.
Interestingly, the Vanity Fair article uses the term "reconstruction" to describe this time period. It's an apt word, as the leaders of the galaxy are busy rebuilding and trying to re-establish a true republic after more than 20 years of harsh Imperial rule. But much like how A New Hope was inspired by the Vietnam War, this post-Return of the Jedi era brings to mind the United States' Reconstruction era from 1866 to 1877. In both Star Wars and the real world, Reconstruction is the story of a government trying to rebuild a shattered economy, unify a divided population and determine how or even if former enemy combatants should be reintegrated into society.
In the real world, the collapse of the Confederacy gave rise to the Ku Klux Klan and an epidemic of racially motivated murders in the South. In Star Wars, the defeated Empire retreats into the fringes of the galaxy and returns decades later as the First Order. Thanks to The Rise of Skywalker, we know the broad strokes of that story. But with these various post-Return of the Jedi projects, it seems Lucasfilm is intent on fleshing out that conflict. These shows explore how the decisions made in the immediate aftermath of the Empire's fall wind up leading to the devastation seen in the sequels.
The Mandalorian is slowly shedding light on the fate of an Imperial-occupied Mandalore (another example of colonialism at work in the Star Wars universe). The Book of Boba Fett reveals the early origins of Luke's Jedi Academy and plants the seeds for his downfall as a Jedi Master. Ahsoka will likely focus on the titular character's hunt for Grand Admiral Thrawn, the one warlord capable of rallying the scattered Imperial Remnant. And Rangers of the New Republic - in whatever form it ultimately takes - will probably shed more light on how the First Order grew outside the New Republic's gaze.
There's a lot of Star Wars content in the works for Disney+. And even though these shows may focus on different heroes and villains and explore different pieces of a centuries-long timeline, they all contribute to something bigger. Star Wars always has been and continues to be a story about the importance of hope and rebellion in the face of oppressive, authoritarian power. It's refreshing to see that theme back at the forefront of the franchise.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Continue reading...