Although Lucasfilm still has its sabbatical year due to putting Star Wars movies on the big screen, Disney + has quickly become a secondary home of the epic science fiction fantasy franchise in the meantime. Even when the IP returns to theaters in 2023, whatever movie ends up being, the parent company’s streaming platform will no doubt be looking to continue it with TV shows. But no matter how big the galaxy is, there is still a lot of skill ripe to tap.
While many additional Star Wars works were never really considered canons even pre-Disney, the company effectively removed almost everything else to Legends continuity when it bought the franchise for a whopping $ 4 billion. Lucasfilm later reintroduces elements of Legends stories piecemeal, but there is still a thousand years of history ripe for readaptation.
The distant past of the Old Republic
For many Star Wars veteran fans, the dense folklore of the Old Republic era is nothing new when it comes to stories that definitely need Lucasfilm’s recognition. The era itself is viewed as part of the Disney era canon, however, only in obscure pieces. Fan-favorite hero / villain character Revan has been confirmed to exist inside The Rise of Skywalkerbut only with an extra Easter egg.
In truth, it would be easy to say “adapt the Knights of the Old Republic games. ” But as video game developer Aspyr is ready to release a top-down remake of at least BioWare’s original game for PlayStation 5 and PC, it would be best to dig into the historical value of the other tens of thousands of years within that era solely for a new condition.
A great place to look for reference material would be Dark Horse Comics, as the publisher has been known in past decades for filling the extended universe of Star Wars. The publisher has since regained publishing rights to Star Wars, but its Tales of the Jedi A comic book series from 1993 to 1998 could be a good template for a serialized – and canonized – Old Republic-era television program at Disney +.
While that name will ironically be used in an upcoming anthology-style Star Wars animated series, the comics covered a large chunk of the Old Republic, ranging from the Great Sith War to the Great Hyperspace War. The core of Tales of the JediThe conflict stems from an ancient Jedi-turned-Sith and how his dark legacy inspires a pair of newly baptized Sith to start a war against the Jedi.
This story is more than disconnected enough from the Skywalker Saga to avoid stepping on any canonical toes, and it would introduce a completely fresh cast of heroes and villains into the process. Lucasfilm probably played it too safe with the stories they adapted post-Skywalker Saga, and during similarities of The Mandalorian proved to be critically well-received hits, going into the distant past would be an exciting thing for audiences to see in real-life fighting.
Having a wide cast of Jedi, Sith, and anything else could make for a compelling story told from several perspectives and branching out characters. There is no reason to expect any direct adaptations of Legends works, but the prospect of having a new “Big Bad” in the form of Exar Kun and Qel-Droma could revive – at least temporarily – for a franchise that still can’t seem to get past Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine.
Darth Bane and the Rule of Two
Sticking with the theme of the Dark Side of the Force and the Sith would be a particularly interesting direction to focus on Star Wars. Having them be shady puppets or snakes requiring their time to strike is exciting to the point, but we’ve still seen surprisingly few of them in real action due to how impressive a threat they are to the galaxy.
During the waning days of the Old Republic, a single Sith Lord chose to eradicate the “Sith establishment” because of how ineffective they were as a group in fighting the Jedi. The Sith was essentially tribal, selfish, and power-hungry, which meant that a unified force or masses of Masters and Apprentices would never last. Fighting was rampant, making the Sith his enemy as much as the Jedi.
Therefore, there is a canonical reason why we once saw only a few of them at a time in the movies: The Rule of Two. Palpatine himself forced it into the movies, which meant that only once could there be one Master and one Apprentice. One to hold power, and one to covet it.
Of course, this would certainly lead to assassination once – or if – the apprentice became strong enough. But if the Master kills his usurper, another apprentice takes their place. It is a cruel way to maintain the new Sith order, but it has taken them hundreds of years. And the creator and creator of Rule of Two – Darth Bane – would make a great premise for a serialized Disney + show.
Author Drew Karpyshyn wrote a trilogy of books centered around this villain – who is later acknowledged in a canon – detailing how he ruthlessly killed the Sith Lords skeleton crew while still urgently holding the piece of influence they had left behind, and later accepted an apprentice named. Darth Zannah. As the trilogy continued, it put more focus on this young Sith Apprentice and how she ultimately challenged Darth Bane for her title.
Having a series that puts the villains’ perspective at the forefront would be an ambitious new direction for a major Star Wars live-action project. Not enough is known about the history of the Sith in a canon, and Lucasfilm should not walk on them being eternally unknown villains forever. Becoming bolder is something it will have to do when it will inevitably no longer be able to make more mistakes in prequel, original and sequel trilogies, and embrace more. Legends tradition – as well as an unadapted canon – would be a great way to do that.
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