Reboot to the Head

There’s been talk lately about what’s going to happen to Star Wars Expanded Universe lore when Disney’s new movies come out. With the closing of LucasArts and the cancellation of some projects, many fans are worried that the Disney is going to dismiss and rewrite  the entire EU with the new movies.

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, trying to work a new story into an already saturated environment would be a hell of a task for any writer. There’s just so much stuff out there. Despite the best efforts by the people responsible for continuity, there’s also a lot of contradiction between various books, video games and comic books.  Having all of that hanging over your head would really limit what the movies writers could do with their story.

And some of the material is outright terrible.  Several of the EU books that take place post ROTJ are just flat out bad. Even ones that are good were written before the prequel movies came out. They base some story elements on events that couldn’t have happened they way they are described due to the way the Clone Wars turned out on screen.

On the other hand, many of those stories are very good. I haven’t read any of the comics but those are lauded by many. I’ve read many, though far from all, of the books. The Timothy Zahn novels gave the EU its kickstart and tell an excellent follow up story to the original trilogy. Seeing that story alone get wiped away from the EU would be a tragedy.

But, in the end, it’s probably necessary.  The Thrawn trilogy takes place five years after ROTJ but it’s been 30. It’s all but confirmed that the original actors will be returning for at least cameo appearances. Whatever story gets told in Episode VII, it won’t be in the same time frame as Thrawn. And for most movie viewers, when ROTJ ended, the Rebels had won.  Which means Episode VII will probably begin from that perspective.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the stories that take place in the EU before the movies occur couldn’t have happened. But from whatever point the movie occurs, any stories that take later will be called into question. New stories will need to be written to follow up on events from the movies. That leads to the question of what stories fit in the EU and what don’t anymore.

It will be easier for Disney to just say anything post ROTJ doesn’t count anymore. Then they have a clean slate to work with. New writers of books and comics also have a clean slate. This may be annoying for the authors of works that are getting shoved under the rug but a great boon for authors who will get to write new stories in this era.

It should be interesting and allow for a lot of new and exciting stories. Just so long as none of them are the Crystal Star or the New Rebellion.