First, this. Up to speed? Excellent.
Some of you might be surprised to read that official Star Wars canon didn’t officially end with Return of the Jedi. While the past 30 years have seen no shortage of supplemental material in the form of books, games and holiday specials, not all of them were viewed as canonical in the eyes of Lucasfilm, never a company willing to shun a licensing opportunity.
But this Thrawn Trilogy, written by Timothy Zahn and debuting in 1991 with Heir to the Empire, is another matter entirely. Those books, taking place five years after the fall of the Empire in Jedi and chronicling the New Republic’s efforts to quell the remaining Imperial forces, actually were confirmed canon by Lucasfilm. Except wait, now they’re not. Via eOnline:
So is that the basis for Episode 7 or not? I’ve heard directly from LucasFilm and other sources close to the picture, and they say: Definitely not.
“It’s an original story,” a LucasFilm source tells me.
The piece goes on to reveal this much ballyhooed treatment for the newly announced Episodes VII-IX was actually written by Lucas himself, so it appears that consultant position he took at Disney involves slightly more than originally thought, at least in the early going.
I expect this news to rile a lot of nerds; the Thrawn Trilogy has some devoted fans as far as expanded universe Wars is concerned. Personally, I never put much stock into Mara Jade or Grand Admiral Thrawn, but invested fans might be upset to find out they’re not a part of continuity after all. Some will try to make the argument that the new trilogy can still take place after Zahn’s books, but I doubt Lucas or Disney care much about pleasing this one, very segmented part of the fanbase. Not with all these Star Wars / CARS mash-up toys to sell, which I personally view as 100% canon.
16 comments
Not really sure why anyone should care if Zahn’s novels are canon or not. In fact, I’m kind of tired of this whole question of whether or not something is canon. As long as a story you enjoy exists, why does it matter whether or not it’s canon? It’s not like the creation of a contradictory story will somehow wipe the previous one out of existence.
Didn’t the prequels mess up this trilogy anyway? The clones weren’t the bad guys after all, at least not at first. But like they said on Penny Arcade, “It’s about space wizards in the future past. Think whatever you want.”
I’m open to a heavy reformatting of Zahn’s books if necessary, but keep Thrawn as the villain – at least for the first part of the sequel trilogy. I don’t know how you can top the Emperor or Vader, but Zahn didn’t do a half-assed job with Thrawn.
As long as the Robot Chicken specials are still considered canon, I’ll be fine.
This doesn’t mean they’re not canon. It could just be that the “original” story takes place after the events of Zahn’s books.
So, any speculation as to which of the old cast Disney will be bringing back (if any)? Hamill? Fisher? Ford? Billy Dee Williams?
Unless you can knock about 35 years off of Hammil, Ford and Fisher, it would have to be an original story, or take place post-Yuuzhan Vong, which seems like more effort and exposition than it would be worth. Thrawn Trilogy is completely out of the question.
I’m betting Hamill gets a cameo and a “passing the torch” moment, and otherwise it’ll likely be an all-new cast with non-EU characters.
I suspect the new films won’t embrace the EU, but may not horribly contradict it, either. Lucas mentioned the EU in the brief interview/statement he gave yesterday with Kathleen Kennedy, so it’s definitely something they’re aware of.
Personally, while I love the EU, at this point I could care less if they did a reboot, or even if they just put out a “hard list” of which previous material “counts” and which doesn’t, allowing them to excise a lot of the garbage while keeping the more well-received and beloved aspects of the EU. Most of the “ancient past” EU stuff generally doesn’t conflict at all with later stuff, so that can likely stay. Post RotJ? As noted, if the “Big 3” appear and aren’t being recast, any movie would pretty much have to take place after any of the post-RotJ novels and comics save for the “Legacy” series (which has a hundred or so year “buffer” that gives the films PLENTY of time to play in).
Though on the topic of Hamill, Ford, and Fisher…don’t forget that CGI can “de age” people now, albeit not super-convincingly (yet).
As for Lucas involvement: He may have done the initial “story treatments” but Disney will be free to tweak them as they see fit. Likely with folks that actually know how to write dialogue and hopefully a director that actually knows how to direct actors.
But.. my childhood… rape… etc…
Anyway, I’m down for anything that doesn’t include Lucas writing dialogue or directing actors.
The quote doesn’t mean the Zahn stories aren’t canon. It just means the next film trilogy won’t use the Zahn stories or any existing story as a basis. The films will be an original story. This is hardly shocking news.
The new films are rumored to take place decades after Return of the Jedi, so they don’t necessarily have to contradict EU material. Although, there has been so much EU material, I’m sure something will be ignored.
The only original trilogy character that is worth carrying forward is Luke. He can be a mentor to the next generation and appear as a Jedi ghost. The Legacy comics did this well, and I think it would work well in films. Unless they want to have Luke go dark and his children have to save him from the darkside. Thus, the circle of life/force goes on.
Looks like it’s time to start working on the script for the Boba Fett movie I’ve always fantasized about…..
Why? Christopher Nolan often selected different elements from the Batman comics to adapt for his trilogy while adding his own spin. Why can’t the filmmakers of episode VII do the same with the EU? There’s as much good material to find as bad.
Except in a case like this a big part of the enjoyment comes from the belief that it’s part of a larger story. In the case of the Thrawn Trilogy it was “the next chapter” not just a “what if?”
And I think some of the more devoted fans would have some grounds to be upset if they spent the last 20 years shelling out a lot of money to “keep up” with the expanded universe on the belief that they were getting the genuine story of the Star Wars universe only to be told that it’s all being pitched out the window.
Which isn’t to say that it will be. The new episode will undoubtedly contradict some things but will probably leave things open enough that big chunks of the EU could still exist just fine. Even the post-RotJ EU. Disney knows there’s a degree of money in reprints and repackaging of all this past material. I doubt they’ll want to pitch it all out the window.
Dear people,
Before anyone turns to the Timothy Zahn’s books there have been comics that took place after ROTJ. Notably the Marvel Comics from the 80s. A couple of nice stories that could be used as a basis/idea for the next SW movie (although i admit that they also published a lot of crap stories as well).
So in a way i see Lucasfilm under Disneys umbrella as a homecoming as they’ll be joining Marvel again.
Okay, I see the point you’re making. I guess I just tend to take everything from the approach Alan Moore took with “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” when he was instructed by DC editorial to make sure readers understood it wasn’t part of regular continuity: “This is an imaginary story… Aren’t they all?”
My position is that, while I personally won’t be heartbroken if episodes VII-IX directly contradict the EU stuff*, I hope for the sake of those fans who have invested so much into the EU over the last twenty years or so that–as you suggested–the new films take place long enough after ROTJ to allow them to still consider everything to be “official.”
*In fact, I’d be happy if it takes a steaming dump all over anything written by Kevin J. Anderson.
I desperately want them to do something based on Brian Daley’s Han Solo Adventures, except with the Empire instead of Corporate Sector.
Comments are shown as archived from the original site; new comments are closed.