Those of you with a long-standing attachment to the Skywalker family may want to sit down in your favorite chair with a calming hot beverage. This article will explain why we no longer need the Skywalkers to tell Star Wars stories. The Skywalkers are essential to Star Wars lore but not the brand's future.
With all the visits back to Tatooine, I am beginning to understand why Anakin hated sand. In case the writers of Star Wars forgot, Tatooine isn't the only planet in this Galaxy, and so many others could be visited and explored. The people in those systems had their own story of rebellion during the time of the original trilogy, and personally, it would be great to see how the rise and fall of the Empire affected them. What was their rebellion? What stand did they take against the tyranny of Palpatine? If anything, Andor has proven that well-written Star Wars stories are no longer dependent upon lightsabers and Skywalkers.
And while we don't need an Andor-esque duplicate, a strong story with only the implications of force users and light use of lightsabers wouldn’t be the worst thing. Honestly, it would be great to see shows about post-Order 66 Clones and their life after the Republic Era. Let’s see what they had to endure once discarded by Palpatine and the rest of the Imperial Army. The Bad Batch has shown this to some degree, but seeing more of Captain Rex and his stories between Star Wars: Rebels and the era of the Ahsoka show would most likely be welcomed by many fans.
The Ahsoka show on Disney Plus this past fall showed us that there is a whole other galaxy of stories outside the world of Star Wars as we know it. Ahsoka introduced new characters and places and worked to make us want to be invested in them. Addressing the elephant in the room, yes, there was a Skywalker tie-in for that show, but it was minimal. Anakin Skywalker and his children, Luke and Leia, were not major parts of the story, outside of the appearance of Clone Wars Anakin in the World Between Worlds flashback.
Peridea shows us that there are other stories to be told. Other races to learn about and the ability to see how the force interacts with them away from the Empire and the oversight of Palpatine. Peridea shows us that we can have new characters and places that tie into the original story. Peridea shows us that you don't have to be a Skywalker to be interesting.
And think about this for just a moment. What if opening the doorway to the galaxy across the universe and finding Peridea allows the introduction of the Yuuzahn Vong from the Legends era books to be told? What we have is a blank canvas where some Legends stories could be brought into canon with little or no adaptations.
Not at all. Anakin Skywalker is central to the theme of the original story told by George Lucas. He will at least be part of every Star Wars story moving forward because he is the chosen one and so ingrained into the lore. But, with that being said, he and his children do not need to be involved in every story. We don't need a Skywalker cameo in every show.
Keeping the future of Star Wars Skywalker-centric only limits the brand and reduces the number of stories that can be told. It means that because of aging and deceased actors, there will have to be a recasting or rebooting of these classic characters and their stories. Moving away from the Skywalker name protects the legacy of Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, James Earl Jones, Hayden Christensen, and others.
Instead, let’s tell other stories, go to other places, and explore the rest of the known galaxy and now this new one that houses Peridea. Let’s tell the stories that have nothing to do with Skywalker. We just need to ensure that the Holy Filoni (hallowed be thy name) and his favorite Favreau lead the creative charge for the foreseeable future.
Great article! 🙂 I have always loved the story of Anakin and his descent to the dark side but you're right, it's time we preserve that story and focus on new ones
Agreed we need to move away for the larger films. Andor is proof that there are better stories to be told. That said the occasional cameo from C-3PO, R2, Luke, etc... will always put a giant smile on my face.