Star Wars looks to be headed for a new era, with a new trilogy reportedly being set in the High Republic era. Here are three things to look forward to.
Disney is wasting no time piling on the future of the Star Wars cinematic universe. While there is no live-action content to watch until next fall, when The Mandalorian Season 2 returns to Disney+, the years following will give us so much content we’ll never be left wanting. And that includes a new series of films that will be set in the High Republic era, roughly 400 years before the Skywalker saga.
It’s not an “official” announcement yet, but the report comes from Making Star Wars. To add to that, it’s not supposed to be a trilogy at all, but rather a series of films that simply interconnect different story lines. So this isn’t Rian Johnson’s trilogy and it isn’t what D.B Weiss and David Benioff were working on before they left the project, though it may build off of what they had started.
Whatever the case, we can start the speculation now, even if this is all just rumors for now. Disney has confirmed the Obi-Wan series, they’ve confirmed the Cassian Andor series, The Mandalorian is coming back. We just need to know the silver screen future, and if this is the approach they end up taking, we have a lot to look forward to.
For now, with the complete lack of details (and the complete lack of official confirmation), I’m coming with just three things to look forward to, assuming this is a movie series that happens.
3. The Height of the Jedi
Jedi are some of the most fabled characters in all of cinematic history. No matter if someone has seen or read any Star Wars story ever, they know what a Jedi is. It’s an actual religion. In our actual world. Jedi are huge. They are a cultural phenomena.
But most all we’ve seen of the Jedi is them struggling. It’s a noble calling, they’re here to safeguard the galaxy, yet even from the onset of the prequel trilogies, the Jedi are overstretched, they’re stressed, they are losing their power.
Fast forward through their destruction, Order 66, the exile of Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the film titled The Last Jedi and the Jedi were essentially dead and gone. No longer galactic peace keepers but novelties.
Not so in the High Republic. During the 1000 years of peace following the Jedi-Sith War, where large-scale wars didn’t happen, the Jedi were fully in charge. They were the peacekeepers they could only hope to be by the time little Anakin popped out of his mother like the Tatooine messiah he was meant to be.
We’ve never seen the Jedi like this. And seeing as how they kept the peace for a literal millennium, the portrayal of this never-before-seen time will be fascinating.
On to No. 2.
2. Yoda and Yaddle
One of the big perks of this reported movie series is that it will be completely detached from the Skywalker saga, and from everything, really. We’ve only ever seen one era of the Star Wars universe, but it is a massive galaxy with so much rich history that is just dying to be mined into.
More on that later. Because I want to talk about the only possible characters from the Skywalker Saga that we can see in this new movie series—Yoda. And, for that matter, Yaddle. The two of their kind. By the time this comes out, we may know more about them, depending on what The Mandalorian Season 2 has to say about the origins of The Child, but regardless, this greatest kept mystery of the Star Wars universe could find similar answers here.
But let’s be honest, the real reason why it’s exciting that Yoda could show up in this movie series is because Yoda could show up in this movie series. We saw CGI Yoda duel Count Dooku and Palpatine, but each time, he was Old Yoda, just a few years from death.
At this point in the Jedi Master’s life, he would have been in his prime. We have never seen prime Yoda before. But if senior citizen Yoda can go toe-to-toe with Palpatine and Dooku, then it’s no wonder why the Jedi kept order for 1000 years. It’s because Yoda is the man.
Let’s not forget about Yaddle though. Her abilities are mostly hearsay and lore, so to see it on screen? Double the Yoda, double the fun!
Now then, on to business at No. 1.
1. It’s own thing
Sure, seeing Yoda and Yaddle will be fun. Lots of it. But the big draw, as I alluded to in the previous slide, is that it is going to have zero to do with the Skywalker Saga.
Or The Mandalorian.
Or the Obi-Wan series, or Cassian Andor series.
It’s going to be it’s own thing, set in a Star Wars universe we’ve never seen before on the screen. Never even come close to seeing.
It got a bit tenuous there towards the end of the Star Wars Skywalker saga, with a lot of characters never wanting to work with Disney again, and the passing of Carrie Fischer, and just a lot of problems that will come up if Disney ever does decide to set another series in the most familiar era of the Star Wars story.
But to set this in the High Republic is to detach completely from everything Skywalker saga, barring Yoda’s peeps.
Think of one of the main reasons people loved The Mandalorian—it was it’s own thing, separate from the Skywalker saga. Even still, it was set in that general era, with the Empire, and that familiar lingo.
Not so with the High Republic setting. All brand new. Never before seen. Bring it on.