Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Is The Expanded Universe About To Be Rebooted?

16 comments
By: Benjamin Hart

Star Wars canon has been a hot topic for years now. Arguments about what's canon and what's not have been common in the Star Wars fan community. Star Wars: The Clone Wars sparked controversy many times when the series, over the course of it's five seasons, contradicted storylines that were previously established in Novels and Comics. One of the largest portions of the Expanded Universe is the post-'Return Of The Jedi' era, which is now in danger of being overwritten with upcoming Sequel Trilogy. We have been anxiously awaiting word on what Disney and Lucasfilm's plans are for the EU. Now we may have our answer. Lucasfilm's "Holorcon Keeper", Leland Chee, tweeted a few interesting things recently that could give us an idea on how canon will be handled in the near future.

Firstly, when brought into a conversation about Star Wars canon, Chee mentions Pablo Hidalgo(@infinata) and the LFL story group:

And when about how this will affect upcoming Star Wars projects:

It has been established for some time now that Lucasfilm has been using the "Holocron" system, where stories are separated into different levels of canon based on their medium. For example; G-canon comprises the films, T-canon is made up of TV series such as The Clone Wars, C-canon includes books, comics, ect., and so on. Now it seems the story group is reworking this system:


Star Wars continuity has not been in great shape, even before the aforementioned changes caused by The Clone Wars. With hundreds of different creators working in the same universe, there is no way for every single existing book, comic, TV show and movie to fit together seamlessly without contradictions.  And if they tried to make the new films adhere to the current EU timeline, or directly adapt a novel or comic into a movie , it would no doubt be a disaster in more than one way. EU fans would expect it to be faithful to the source material, which movies never are. And those who aren't familiar the Expanded Universe would be lost in the complicated stories. The best thing to do now is to leave the Expanded Universe as it is and move forward with a brand new, separate storyline for the films. A "Reboot", if you will. Then, those behind the scenes will have more creative freedom to not only make their own stories unhindered, but to take select aspects of the EU, like Characters, planets, ships, and plotlines, and insert them into future films. Of course, I'm just speculating, and hoping, at this point. But it certainly sounds like the team at Lucasfilm may be headed in that direction. Hopefully in the future we can focus less on what is and isn't canon, and more on enjoying the continuing Star Wars Saga.

Well, you've heard my opinion, now I'd love to hear yours. Fire away in the comments below, tweet us @TheSWU, or join the discussion in Club SWU on Facebook!

The opinion expressed in this article are that of the author's and do not necessarily represent the views of the entire Star Wars Underworld organization.

Source: Jedi News


16 comments:

Unknown said...

Supposedly the new movies take place on the outer rim of the galaxy far from connections to the previous trilogies anyway.

Unknown said...

no that is not fair this is a universe that has grown so much that this is what we have all come to love yeah it is alittle rough around the edges but it is apart of who we all are if they take away so much of what I have come to love then what is there for any of us yeah there have been some bad moves made but this is what star wars is we roll with those bad moves cause just around the corner there is going to be something epic if disney destroy my universe then I will no longer endorse anything star wars I'm sorry they have gone to far I love star wars I breathe star wars and if this is going to do this then this is my goodbye to my one and only saving grace then my final may the force be with you all long live the empire

kenkraly2004 said...

I'm not bothered at all by a SW EU reboot if it does happen the EU at it's current state has run it's course and got watered down time for some new stories.

Unknown said...

At first I was leery of an EU reboot but I am so sick of the direction the EU has taken and how it contradicts the movies in different ways. How they seem to lie to us every few books about characters *coughcough*Vergere*coughcough* and characters undergo strange personality changes for needless changes in the same series are just two of my problems with the EU

Unknown said...

Non of us Star WArs Fans expect much from JAR JAR Abrams ...he blew up Star Trek to a point it completely over wrote the original canon....Sadly most Star Wars fans who know Star Wars are not holding their lightsabers to far from Jar Jar Abrams throat...
I expect it to be a a GOOD MOVIE but closer to STAR TREK then STAR WARS...
It WILL NOT be like 4 5 and 6 for sure and it has a 50% chance of being far worse then 1 2 and 3

But maybe Jar Jar Abrams will blow us all away but it is not likely he could write a better movie then what already exists in the EU...

Unknown said...

No, NO reboot of the EU! Lucasfilm has made a fortune out of years of book publishing - the scrap it would be an insult to everyone that bought into the EU!

Unknown said...

Len H, it is rumored, that for good reason mostly age, they are working on adapting a version of the Grand Admiral Thrawn series! Holding my breath!

J Roc said...

I wish they would reboot the prequels.

Unknown said...

Take a page from Marvel and DC. Each one has sever alternate realities. The movies exist as one, for Marvel, you have (or had) Marvel's standard universe, Marvel Knights, Ultimates, 2099, What If?, etc..,and DC has (had) Prime, New Earth, Earths 1 and 2, Elseworlds, etc. Surely Star Wars can be looked at the same way. There is now believable way for them to make the EU stories people want to see into movies . The Thrawn Trilogy and the New Jedi Order series take place too far back from how the original actors look to be believable. If they were to use any EU storyline, it would have to start with the Dark Nest Trilogy, while trying to explain everything that happened in between. Keep the movies separate from the books and comics. Some information can still be the same, but they need to be treated as alternate realities to be truely successful. And take them for what they are: Fiction. May the Force be with you all!!

Unknown said...

I agree with Unknown. The EU is great but there could be two different but similar routes the series goes after Return of the Jedi. The EU can still be enjoyed while the possible different movie plots can as well.

Unknown said...

I really really hope they just ignore the EU as far as the movies are concerned, Don't mention them at all. All i'm asking for is that Han and Leia are married with the twins, Luke and Mara are married with Ben Thats it, keep the main characters story progress through the EU intacted and you can do whatever you want from there. I kinda assume most casual fans of just the movies assumed Han and Leia would be married with kids and it isn't far off to assume Luke is as well.

Unknown said...

At this point in time, it wouldn't be a bad strategy. I was thinking of something along the same lines. And that way, we can have less whining about what is and isn't canon and just worry about enjoying the work for what it is. If they can salvage stuff from other stories, I'm okay with that too.

Unknown said...

What kills me, is how quick you Na Sayers turn on anything that dosn't benefit your Story line. If you have the story get out there submit it get motivated fell the force and use it . stop I am madly in love with Jar Jar Binks... dont tell anyone but I have an engagement ring in my dressering ..

Unknown said...

Nice dig at the end of my comment ouch , lol

KKNIGHT said...

At this point, the only way I can see this new trilogy being good for anyone is to focus it on characters we don't already know. The main characters need to follow the EU path that has been set before them.
You CAN make this new story about what went on after ROTJ without overwriting things that have been established. It's not a stretch to think that Han and Leia got married and had kids... you don't need an origin story to tell people that whether they've read EU material or not.

Unknown said...

I hope they consider what a bloody headache this has been to SKIP a time period.
The phantom menace might not have sold as it stood back in '77 but it would've been a less of a headache if done in order.

I hope they can have "The old republic/before the movies" live as stuff that has happened but in the universe history is woobly so we can play with the sith wars in the past in any video games and stories without it effecting the main movie period.

Then i hope they take this as a sign and either do something with the skipped time period an animated luke/leia/han would be more welcome than "lets do rebels without starkiller yee!"
If one of those options is leaving Mara and the Thrawn books happen in that time period, Sweet.
But how long till somebody wants to go back to do them in movie form? waiting till only cause problems.

Most of what happens big story points like the Twins+Lukes kid, Boba Fett being alive and becoming Mandalore as well as the new Species yuuzhan vong and the war, Then the details could be changed.

I could live without the "Legacy" era but they have some really cool ideas in that period mostly the Imperial knights, Force users who aren't light or dark strictly which might be a really good story to explore.

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