Is Star Wars fatigue a real thing?

Mark Hamill talked about Star Wars fatigue, but is it a real thing? Maybe, especially with all the content coming out as of late.

Mark Hamill, our beloved Luke Skywalker, said he believes Star Wars fatigue could be a real thing. In fact, he’s experienced it himself.

The quote came from an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

More from Editorial

Hamill obviously has a different experience with the Star Wars universe than the regular fan. The constant interviews, media coverage and fan interaction probably has exhausted the actor. The amount of Star Wars-related inquiries Hamill sees on a daily basis is at an all-time high thanks to social media and how it connects fans to him.

Setting aside Hamill’s own feelings towards Star Wars fatigue due to his unique relationship with the franchise, I think we should take a look to see if it actually exists

Spoiler alert: It does.

What initially made the galaxy far, far away so special when it was first released was that it was a new, revolutionary type of film that widened the realm of the cinema industry. It created a new universe filled with unique creatures, technologies and of course, the Force, that captivated audience’s minds.

The surprise success of A New Hope in 1977 and its very successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) created a passionate fandom that found itself bereft of any theatrical additions to the saga for over 15 years until the release of The Phantom Menace in 1999.

The long gap between ROTJ and TPM, the first episode of the prequel trilogy, was highly anticipated and, despite its faults, still became the highest grossing film of 1999 and was at one point the second highest grossing film of all time.

After the conclusion of the prequel trilogy in 2005 with Revenge of the Sith, the fandom again was left without cinematic versions of Star Wars for a decade. While there were video games and television shows, namely The Clone Wars, released between Revenge of the Sith and 2015’s The Force Awakens, it is not a secret the movies reach a larger audience than any other versions.

That 10-year gap covered a lot of sins committed by the prequel trilogy, which caused it to become more well-liked by the fandom as a whole by the time Episode VII released in 2015. So when The Force Awakens was announced in 2012, the hype that came with it was immense. The anticipation led to it becoming one of the highest grossing movies of all time and highest grossing Star Wars movie ever.

A common theme we’ve seen between the three trilogies is a long gap in between the end of one trilogy and the beginning of the next, each accompanied by a new generation of young fans.

But now, with Star Wars content being released yearly starting with The Force Awakens, the critical period that allows fans to fully process and analyze the movies is gone. We saw this play out with Solo: A Star Wars Story and its lackluster showing at the box office, compared to the standards set by the previous movies. Its poor performance caused Disney to decide to slow down its release of Star Wars content after Episode IX, which is scheduled to be released this upcoming December.

So while we all still love Star Wars and anxiously await Episode IX to complete the Skywalker Saga, we could use a break from other additions to the universe.

I’m not advocating for a decade long break between movies, which occurred between the start of each trilogy, but putting at least a year between movies would be best for the success of future films and the universe as a whole.

Next. Star Wars movies might not be on Disney’s streaming service until 2024. dark

What do you think? Have you suffered from fatigue?

Home/Editorial