10 Years on, Star Wars‘ Rebooted Canon Was a Cultural Reset

Ten years agone this week, the work of A New Dawn—a prequel caller meant to necktie into the then-upcoming Star Wars Rebels, the archetypal TV amusement made nether Lucasfilm’s ownership by Disney—officially launched a revised Star Wars canon. It was quality the fandom had known was coming for a portion up to that point, with the classical Expanded Universe, now dubbed Legends, formally coming to its extremity a fewer months anterior successful April 2014. But present a decennary on, the interaction of this determination is not felt truthful overmuch successful the stories being told, but the broader Star Wars fandom’s narration with them.

This is, of course, successful portion due to the fact that of the kinds of stories that are being chosen to tell, and erstwhile those stories are set. The reset of Star Wars continuity down to its astir basal elements—the then-six Star Wars movies and the 3DCG Clone Wars TV show—now near a originative canvas arsenic wide arsenic dissimilar thing the Expanded Universe had seen astir since its inception to archer caller stories. But the caller canon besides came with a regularisation the EU had ne'er truly played with: everything going forward, including games, comics, books, TV shows, and the recently announced sequel trilogy, would beryllium successful communicative lockstep with each other. Outside of a fewer precise circumstantial selections of media, each Star Wars going guardant “mattered” to exploring and filling successful this recently condensed canon.

© Random House

The Expanded Universe had agelong operated connected a striated attack to continuity. By and large, astir events were comparatively successful sync with each other, but tiers of canonicity could override 1 another, particularly with the accomplishment of the Clone Wars TV amusement arsenic a merchandise created by Lucas himself, starring to respective arguable retcons—like the show’s approach to Mandalorian culture. But adjacent then, the EU had been astir for truthful agelong astatine that point, and determination had been truthful galore antithetic sources for worldly adjacent without Lucasfilm creating caller movies oregon shows beyond Clone Wars itself aft the prequel trilogy, that immoderate details often contradicted each different anyway, giving characters aged and caller arcane, analyzable backstories that were a nightmare to navigate for each but the astir seasoned of fans. But this new, all-in attack to canon—one beholden by the shadiness of then-incoming movies sworn to secrecy—traded that occupation for another. The muddled messiness of contradictions and decades of lore the EU had developed was gone, but truthful excessively was the sheer breadth of storytelling it had astir instantly begun to play with.

In immoderate ways, this makes sense. At slightest successful presumption of guardant momentum beyond the archetypal trilogy, the EU ne'er had a peculiar contented with the thought of much “official” Star Wars connected the contiguous skyline similar the caller canon did, and perpetually having to play astir waiting for that contented to found the aboriginal of the franchise. The prequels didn’t travel until astir a decennary aft the EU had formally began successful earnest with the merchandise of Heir to the Empire, but adjacent before Heir, Star Wars storytellers astir instantly began exploring stories of what came after Return of the Jedi in Marvel’s Star Wars comic aft it was done adapting the movie itself. When the prequels came along, that lone served to propulsion the EU’s breadth wider. New movies acceptable a fewer decades anterior to A New Hope? The EU went backmost to archer the communicative of the postulation decades earlier that, and then thousands of years earlier that with the likes of Tales of the Jedi or Knights of the Old Republic. And erstwhile they were done, and gave the EU a full caller playground to messiness astir in, it inactive looked up hundreds of years beyond the films with bid like Legacy.

© Marvel Comics

Meanwhile the past decennary of Star Wars has had fits and starts to grow the series’ skyline crossed mediums, but continuity has by and ample stuck to the vague clip framework astir the movies, adjacent with the enlargement to 9 entries successful the Star Wars saga by 2019. Outside of 1 large initiative, Star Wars: The High Republic, which began telling stories respective centuries earlier the clip of the movies, overmuch worldly made since the reset has served to capable successful the games betwixt films, alternatively than beyond oregon adjacent mostly anterior to them. The astir 70-year play that makes up the the “Skywalker Saga” is present stacked with authoritative material, particularly the clip framework of the prequel and archetypal trilogies. We know, arguably, acold much astir the events successful the 20 twelvemonth spread betwixt Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope—the play now officially known as the Reign of the Empire—or the years betwixt the archetypal films successful authoritative continuity than possibly immoderate different play of Star Wars, portion our cognition of the 30-year spread between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens is mostly constrained to a fewer events instantly after Jedi, the wide play loosely drawn around The Mandalorian and its affiliated shows (a absorption that is an ever-increasing precedence for Lucasfilm arsenic of late). For arsenic reticent as Star Wars has felt to determination connected beyond this timeframe aft the disappointing absorption to The Rise of Skywalker 5 years ago, arsenic it present remains an ongoing, perpetually expanding franchise, it’s going to instrumentality a batch much than the 10 years it’s already taken for existent continuity to get to the scope of the EU astatine its tallness due to the fact that of that restriction.

And yet, the caller canon besides faces a regularisation that neither it nor its masters could’ve ever truly controlled: a fanbase that has been trained by changing taste trends successful the past 10-15 years to consume media and its canon. The emergence of Star Wars‘ continuity reset came adjacent to what was the opening of the apex of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and its popularization of the “all-connected” shared beingness arsenic a unit to beryllium reckoned with successful fashionable culture. In 2014, the 2nd signifier of Marvel’s cinematic endeavors was good underway, having proved that it could propulsion disconnected this benignant of fandom-rewarding continuity crossed movie and TV. DC and countless different brands were already anxious to travel suit successful their ain attempts to pursuit Marvel’s dominance astatine the container office. But portion it would beryllium unfair to accidental that Star Wars was 1 of those brands doing the chasing, the caller continuity came astatine a crossroads successful popular civilization fandom (and its emergence arsenic being progressively co-opted by firm entities) and media, and their shared attack to “It All Matters” continuities: placing an value connected the cultivation of facts supra immoderate different transportation to the narrative.

© Marvel Comics

Every clip a caller contented of Marvel’s relaunched Star Wars comic dropped, determination came a caller “confirmation” of a fundamental, additive factoid to continuity. Every caller publication was astir instantly picked isolated for the earthy accusation of events, characters, and references that were present being stitched backmost into the tapestry of the franchise. With everything wiped cleanable and truthful new, each caller media merchandise was a accidental to larn thing that would beryllium the archetypal of its benignant successful this caller age, thing that could beryllium meticulously added to fandom wikis wrong minutes and hours of caller worldly coming out. Everything whitethorn person mattered to continuity successful a consciousness that it was each successful lockstep with each other, but it became progressively wide what mattered astir to a bully chunk of the assemblage was not the storytelling itself, but the facts buried wrong it. Even now, 10 years in, as Star Wars finds itself successful looking to spot what stories are told next, these attitudes are hard to springiness up, with details and escaped aspersions to the Expanded Universe picked isolated and re-integrated back into the caller canon little for their thematic weight, but due to the fact that they are a things fans tin constituent astatine and recognize, and beryllium lauded for doing so.

But neither of these are fatal problems facing the current Star Wars canon. If anything, that things support expanding 10 years successful is simply a testament to the information that, contempt the taste oversea changes the saga has faced successful that period, determination is inactive plentifulness of accidental for caller Star Wars stories to beryllium told. Like we said, Star Wars is presently astatine thing of a crossroads, successful ways bully and bad. The loss of The Acolyte seemingly heralds the dilatory extremity to 1 of Star Wars‘ freshest areas of exploration for the foreseeable future, and its attraction connected stories that absorption astir the occurrence of The Mandalorian threatens to condense Star Wars‘ imaginable and its worldview adjacent much narrowly. But determination is anticipation to grow those horizons again successful projects similar Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s New Jedi Order movie, the archetypal canonical worldly to grapple with the Star Wars postulation aft the events of The Rise of Skywalker, oregon James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi project, acceptable thousands of years successful the past (if either gets to the large surface astatine all, that is). Star Wars books person thrived connected this potential careless of constraint, giving america stories that research antithetic forms, eras, and approaches to Star Wars that the live-action media has hardly managed to scratch the aboveground of.

Ten years into its ain lifespan, the Expanded Universe arsenic we travel to knew it was inactive only conscionable getting started. Ten years into this latest epoch of Star Wars continuity, the feeling is overmuch the same—and adjacent with the taste challenges it has faced, determination is inactive a whole wide postulation of potential retired determination to explore, a anticipation that burns conscionable arsenic brightly present arsenic it did a decennary ago.

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