Star Wars doesn’t need standalone films moving forward
By J. Wiley
Star Wars doesn’t need standalone films moving forward but should look an entirely different direction with its future content.
If the aftermath of Solo: A Star Wars Story shows us anything at all, it’s that the Star Wars franchise is poorly served by stand-alone films. Aside from the behind the scenes chaos and turmoil, they’ve simply not given a reason why they should exist from a creative standpoint.
Perhaps it’s because as of yet Lucasfilm has decided to hew too closely to the time frame established in the Original Trilogy; expanding upon the smallest details of characters for which we already know the outcomes.
We can all likely agree that while there was a certain swashbuckling fun to Solo, it didn’t provide any new perspectives to those steeped in the mythos. Even the final reveal of Maul as the mastermind of Crimson Dawn doesn’t impart a drastic new reading of the character to those familiar with him in The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series.
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Kristian Harloff of Collider recently stated that he felt Solo played like a good long-form episode of The Clone Wars.
This feels like the correct reading of the film. The television and streaming arms of Lucasfilm are the best places to tell singular and granular stories within the Star Wars universe.
Upcoming shows like Jon Favreau’s 10 episode series and Dave Filoni‘s Resistance will expertly tell new stories built around the smaller aspects of the universe that we’ve heard about but have yet to see.
Having the smaller standalone stories to play out on streaming services will also serve to let the saga films push forward with bold new stories.
With Star Wars: Episode IX just over a year away, we will undoubtedly be leaving the Skywalker saga behind. Moving forward Lucasfilm will have the exhilarating chance to truly deliver a bold and new Star Wars series.
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Lets hope, and encourage, them to retain the epic and sweeping “Saga” format for those film and allow for the harmonious use of the smaller screen to tell the standalone storylines.