With Disney struggling to deliver one other ‘Star Wars’ film to life, TV would be the medium through which the franchise really makes its mark
Cease me for those who’ve heard this one earlier than: Lucasfilm has a number of new Star Wars motion pictures within the works. As introduced on the Star Wars Celebration in April, three initiatives going down at numerous factors within the franchise’s sprawling timeline, together with a so-called “biblical epic” in regards to the origins of the Drive from James Mangold, are poised to grow to be the primary movies set in a galaxy far, distant since The Rise of Skywalker limped into theaters in 2019. In fact, it’s one factor for Star Wars to have new motion pictures in lively improvement; it’s one other problem solely for the flicks to really attain the large display. Whether or not it’s Rian Johnson’s stand-alone trilogy, a Kevin Feige–produced movie, or Patty Jenkins’s take on Top Gun in space with Insurgent fighters, latest historical past has proved that followers ought to take information like this with a Crait of salt. Frankly, I received’t imagine any of those motion pictures exist till the trailers drop.
However as a lot as Star Wars has struggled to observe up the disappointing finish to the Skywalker Saga, the franchise additionally discovered a brand new hope (sorry) on this planet of tv. Ever since The Mandalorian turned the primary live-action Star Wars sequence in 2019, Lucasfilm has saved the streaming initiatives coming at a gradual price. In all, 4 live-action reveals have already been launched—to say nothing of latest animated sequence like The Dangerous Batch and Tales of the Jedi—and 4 extra are on the way in which. The newest of those reveals, Ahsoka, arrives on Tuesday with loads of fanfare. Initially launched within the Clone Wars animated movie because the younger Jedi Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano has since been portrayed by Rosario Dawson in The Mandalorian and The Guide of Boba Fett. Now, by headlining her personal present, Ahsoka is basically merging Dave Filoni’s animated empire of the previous with the franchise’s future, which can culminate in an Avengers-esque crossover film incorporating characters from a number of live-action sequence.
If that seems like so much to maintain observe of, effectively, it’s. (Simply making an attempt to observe the franchise’s chronology with all the brand new bulletins is liable to make somebody go full Pepe Silvia.) Underneath Disney’s stewardship, Star Wars has begun to extra intently resemble the Marvel Cinematic Universe, weaving collectively movies and reveals to make sure followers at all times have one thing new to look ahead to. The MCU could also be within the midst of its worst stretch to date, however even when it fails to succeed in the heights of Avengers: Endgame once more, there’s no denying that Feige and Co. engineered an unprecedented business achievement. However Star Wars isn’t Marvel, and the type of fatigue that audiences are feeling for superhero motion pictures might threaten the enduring enchantment of Disney’s different money cow.
For many years, Star Wars had been identified for its occasion movies: The flicks in George Lucas’s authentic trilogy got here out each three years earlier than a 16-year hiatus between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace. Whereas die-hard followers have been sated with the Star Wars Expanded Universe of novels and comics—since de-canonized by Disney following its acquisition of Lucasfilm—it’s virtually extraordinary today to have such an extended layoff in a storied franchise. However there’s actual worth to the less-is-more strategy: The closest trendy analogue to Star Wars might be James Cameron’s Avatar sequence, which contains two of the three highest-grossing motion pictures of all time. No matter the place you stand on Avatar, Cameron’s franchise feels particular in the identical approach that Star Wars does—a blockbuster event that calls for to be skilled on the large display.
Star Wars not has that novelty, which might be traced again to Solo: A Star Wars Story. Launched inside six months of The Final Jedi, the Han Solo origin story carried out effectively beneath expectations. Disney CEO Bob Iger has since conceded that the release schedule was “a little too much, too fast.” However Disney is already repeating that mistake with Star Wars on the small display, ramping up the variety of reveals and diminishing the model after an encouraging begin. The Mandalorian’s first season scored rave critiques—and an Emmy nomination for Excellent Drama Collection—however the longer the sequence goes on, the extra aimless it turns into. An pointless cameo from a deepfake Luke Skywalker within the Season 2 finale was a harbinger for the present’s lackluster third season; significant developments associated to Grogu (née Child Yoda) occurred as an alternative in The Guide of Boba Fett, whereby Grogu give up his Jedi coaching and reunited with Mando.
Provided that The Guide of Boba Fett was caught between persevering with the adventures of Mando and telling its personal underdeveloped story in regards to the authentic trilogy’s notorious bounty hunter, it ought to come as little shock that the sequence was a weird misfire. However the actual difficulty with each reveals is their insistence on shoehorning characters from the Skywalker Saga: As a substitute of letting the past die, present-day Star Wars is milking each drop of nostalgia from it. (In different phrases, classic Disney.) That directive explains the existence of the Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries, which is about 10 years after the occasions of Revenge of the Sith. As somebody who grew up with the prequel trilogy, I’m not ashamed to confess that I had a Pavlovian response to John Williams’s iconic score within the present’s teaser trailer and that I eagerly anticipated the sequence’ debut. However Obi-Wan Kenobi does little to deepen the viewers’s understanding of its titular character; in actual fact, the sequence arguably undermines the emotional influence of Obi-Wan and Darth Vader’s showdown in A New Hope by letting them cross paths a number of occasions with minimal stakes.
Even within the absence of function movies since The Rise of Skywalker, these reveals have led to an oversaturation of all issues Star Wars, which places Disney’s dealing with of the franchise into query. (The corporate’s issues prolong to its theme park operations, the place the immersive Star Wars–themed resort, Galactic Starcruiser, is shutting down simply 18 months after it opened.) It’s a predicament that Iger desires to keep away from repeating by scaling back the number of Star Wars projects to emphasise high quality over amount. Nevertheless, that received’t cease Lucasfilm from churning out the Star Wars reveals already within the can: Ahsoka however, the coming-of-age sequence Skeleton Crew and the Excessive Republic Period prequel The Acolyte might be launched over the following two years. In the meantime, Donald Glover might be reprising his role as a young Lando Calrissian for a miniseries that the multihyphenate is writing alongside his brother. However until these reveals collectively put up the next batting common than The Guide of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the latter seasons of The Mandalorian, Star Wars might be doing itself extra hurt than good within the years to return.
Fortunately, there’s one notable outlier amid the franchise’s latest streaming woes. With Andor, a [deep breath] spinoff sequence centered on the eponymous Insurgent spy from the spinoff movie Rogue One that leads into the opening of A New Hope, Disney unexpectedly delivered what would be the best Star Wars venture because the authentic trilogy. Grounded, mature, and refreshingly political, Andor is status TV by the use of a galaxy far, distant. The present’s standout moments don’t have anything to do with franchise nostalgia: It excels within the highly effective emotional payoffs to, say, inmates’ escape from an Imperial jail. (“I can’t swim” lives in my head hire free.) Andor has supplied the blueprint for a greater sort of Star Wars sequence—one that’s mercifully liberated from pointless callbacks and Easter eggs. With a bit of luck, at the very least a few of the new reveals within the pipeline will observe go well with: The Acolyte, which hails from Russian Doll cocreator Leslye Headland, holds specific promise, because it predates the prequel trilogy. (Much less encouraging: Andor reportedly lacked the viewership of different Star Wars reveals, although one has to marvel if the lukewarm reception to The Guide of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi is partly in charge.)
With its franchise ties going again to the Clone Wars period, Ahsoka actually doesn’t match the Andor mould, however that doesn’t imply the sequence might be a letdown. Filoni has earned loads of goodwill for what he’s achieved throughout the world of animation: If somebody can steer live-action Star Wars again in the precise route, he’s nearly as good a guess as any. However on the entire, it’s laborious to shake the sensation that Star Wars is dropping extra of its idiosyncratic charms, particularly when Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy aspires to have the franchise “go on forever.” Contemplating the uneven high quality of the Star Wars reveals launched within the final 5 years and the uncertainty about whether or not initiatives will really make it to the large display, I find that level of faith disturbing.
