Star Wars: Let’s take a chance on new programming and not rely on old characters too much

Star Wars should use more new characters and lightly sprinkle in the familiar ones.

With all of the new Star Wars shows headed for Disney+ over the next couple of years, we are going to get a number of familiar characters. Even on a new show like The Mandalorian, where there were ties to the larger galaxy, there are too many old names are popping up again.

Tatooine was a fun place to revisit, but the characters and stories were new.

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It’s always fun to meet with old characters. We all would like to know what happened to Ahsoka and Sabine after Rebels. There’s some crazy backstory to Maz Kanata that could be worth telling. We’d love to get an update on Lobat (OK, maybe not, but you get the picture).

Yet, The Mandalorian showed us we didn’t need familiar characters to make us love Star Wars.

Fans needed good storytelling, compelling actors and enough of the Star Wars universe to make us believe.

The Mandalorian second season is rumored to bring back familiar faces.

However, even all the leaks and rumors from The Mandalorian’s second season have heavily revolved around characters we know with links to Bo-Katan, Boba Fett and potentially other Clone War-era characters.

There is palpable excitement for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. It stars one of the most beloved characters from the saga and gives us the story to fill in the blanks of what happened to Obi-Wan between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

To be honest, I’m less excited about a Cassian Andor series – although there may be others who feel differently. His character was fine, but it didn’t seem he warranted a whole series. This era will also bring back characters we met in the prequels as well as The Clone Wars because you can’t do a story on the rebellion without them.

It really is time for something new. Star Wars fans are at a place where they are willing to accept new characters, elements and stories as long as they are done well.

One of the exciting factors for The High Republic publishing project is that it will feature all new characters with a small chance it would have someone we already considering it takes place hundreds of years before the Skywalkers.

Unless Yoda or Maz Kanata pop up, we are likely to not see any familiar faces.

And that is exciting.

Bringing in the new with a dose of familiarity works – just as it did in the first season of The Mandalorian. And I’m not saying these other shows shouldn’t be worthwhile.

All I’m asking is for more new stories and taking chances for new Disney+ programming.

Stream The Mandalorian on Disney+.