Of Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Around the internet, there are countless posts and videos that share the same basic sentiments about Disney movies and shows set in a galaxy far, far away: “this is not my Star Wars.” The problem, of course, is that Star Wars is all things to all fans, and what can please one group can easily alienate others. Disney doesn’t seem to have a clue how to solve this problem, but the solution is pretty simple: we desperate needs Star Wars to have its own multiverse.
Now some of you just groaned reading that because Disney already has a multiverse with Marvel, and outside of hits like Deadpool & Wolverinethey have mostly wasted it. The problem with the MCU multiverse, though, is that it’s still focused almost entirely on the primary universe, and 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 multiverse approach where future shows and movies can either share different universes or create their own.
What would this mean in practical terms? For starters, we could have a multiverse of 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 entirely. It would also mean ignoring the deaths of the iconic characters, so we can have future movies and shows with older ones Luke Skywalker and Han Solo (although Disney may need a Jabba-like horde of credits to bring Harrison Ford back to Star Wars again).
Conversely, the existing Star Wars sequels and characters can 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 “it’s not my Star Wars” anymore because there is no unique history 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 tradition.
Speaking of pre-existing lore, one of the biggest advantages of Disney Introducing a multiverse to this franchise means we could get adaptations of the beloved Star Wars EU. How fun would it be if we could get a Jedi Academy trilogy of movies adapting Kevin Anderson’s classic books instead of revealing that Kylo Ren either recruited or murdered all of Luke’s students? For that matter, how cool would it be if we could see Jacen Solo on screen and follow his descent into the dark side, one that was far deeper and more satisfying than Kylo Ren’s uncle problems and grandfather worship?
There are some fans who would hate this idea because they are obsessed with “canon”, but here’s a hard truth: canon obsessions do no feeling. Why are we so obsessed with what “really” happened in a fictional universe, that we go so far as to freak out when the latest invention disrupts something we thought we knew about old made up things? Frankly, ending the endless debates about canon would be a great bonus for Disney embracing a multifaceted Star Wars approach.
Only time will tell if Disney adopts the wisdom of this approach. After all, it is an open secret that MCU will restart soon, crushed under the weight of its own oppressive cannon. But what if there was no need for a reboot because there was no single canon but instead an infinite multiverse of possibilities? This might be the last chance to get good stories, bring back beloved characters, and shut up crybaby fans all at the same time, all of which might be our last, best hope to fix the terrible modern state of the most popular sci-fi franchise.
