from Chris Snelgrove
| Published
There are countless posts and videos on the internet that share the same basic sentiment about Disney movies and shows set in a galaxy far, far away: “this isn’t mine Star Wars. The problem, of course, is that Star Wars is all things to all fans, and what may satisfy one group can easily alienate others. Disney seems to have no idea how to deal with this problem, but the solution is quite simple: us desperately need Star Wars to have their own multiverse.
Some of you just groaned while reading this because Disney already has a multiverse with Marvel and off hits like Deadpool and Wolverinethey mostly wasted it. However, the problem with the MCU multiverse is that it’s still focused almost entirely on the primary universe, and the Variants are used for glorified cameos fueled entirely by nostalgia (look, kids, Patrick Stewart is back as Professor X for about two seconds! ). What I’m proposing for Star Wars is a sort of anthology multiversal approach where future shows and movies can either share separate universes or create their own.
What would this mean in practice? For starters, we could have multiple movie sequels that ignore most or even all of the existing Sequel Trilogy. People who absolutely hated new characters like Rey and Kylo Ren may have new content that ignores them completely. It would also mean ignoring the deaths of iconic characters so we can have future movies and shows with older ones Luke Skywalker and Han Solo (although Disney may need a Jabba-style horde of credits to bring Harrison Ford back to Star Wars).
Conversely, existing Star Wars sequel stories and characters could have their own multiverse, one that doesn’t have the weight of fan expectations dragging it down. That’s the beauty of this multiversal approach: no one can claim “this isn’t my Star Wars” anymore, because there is there is no distinct story that future creators must follow. Instead, future creators will have the privilege of simply creating a great story (Andor-style), rather than ruining attempts at greatness by awkwardly fitting everything into pre-existing knowledge.
Speaking of pre-existing knowledge, one of the biggest advantages of Disney the introduction of a multiverse to this franchise is that we can get adaptations of the beloved Star Wars EU. How fun would it be if we could get a trilogy of Jedi Academy movies that adapted Kevin Anderson’s classic books instead of revealing that Kylo Ren either recruited or killed all of Luke’s students? For that matter, how cool would it be if we could see Jason Solo on screen and follow his descent into the Dark Side that was much deeper and more satisfying than Kylo Ren’s uncle issues and grandfather worship?
There are some fans who would hate this idea because they are obsessed with “canon”, but here’s a hard truth: obsessing over canon makes no meaning. Why are we so obsessed with what “really” happened in a fictional universe, going so far as to freak out when the latest fictional thing destroys something we thought we knew about old made up stuff? Quite frankly, ending the endless debates about canon would be an incredible bonus for Disney’s take on Star Wars’ multiversal approach.
Only time will tell if Disney sees the wisdom of this approach. However, it is an open secret that MCU it will reboot soon, crushed under the weight of its own oppressive canon. But what if there’s no need for a reboot because there’s no single canon, but instead an infinite multiverse of possibilities? This could be our last chance to get good stories, bring back beloved characters, and shut up whiny fans all at the same time, all of which could become our last best hope to fix the terrible modern state of the most popular science fiction franchise.
