The World Between Worlds: How to fix Star Wars’ broken canon

The World Between Worlds is a mysterious place that could be used to repair some of the poor choices made with Star Wars’ canon.

While Star Wars has a large and diverse fanbase that spans nearly five decades, some have felt that the most recent sequel trilogies were a huge disappointment — particularly in its treatment of the saga’s original leading characters. Among the most personal letdowns was director Rian Johnson and Pablo Hidalgo’s narrative for Luke Skywalker.

In fact, Mark Hamill — the actor who portrayed Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy — publicly expressed his own personal disagreements with the creative choices made for his character. Further damage was done to the saga’s legacy when Rey, the hero of this new sequel trilogy undone the sacrifice made by Luke’s father and former chosen one, Anakin Skywalker — alias, Darth Vader.

Furthermore, what was meant to be a compliment, turned into an insult, when Rey took on the Skywalker’s surname, fully negating their role as the savior’s of the galaxy. Besides the mishandling of Luke, the new sequel trilogy also mismanaged Han Solo. Solo, began as a self-interested spice smuggler but, eventually, became a Rebel Alliance general that spearheaded one of the most important missions against the Empire. However, in The Force Awakens Han’s relationship with Leia is fractured because of what happened to their son and he gravitates back to his old lifestyle.

So, what does all of this have to with this World Between Worlds, you might ask? Well, as it so happens, this special pocket dimension holds the key to viewing or changing events within the past, present, and most important of all, the future.

First seen on the Star Wars Rebels animated series, this mysterious place that existed outside time and space was found by padawan-in-training, Ezra Bridger. Ezra’s journey inside the World Between Worlds led him to one among many gateways where he saw Ahsoka Tano facing off against her former master, Darth Vader, on Malachor. Ezra — acting on pure instinct — reached through the gateway and pulled his ally out of harm’s way and into the pocket dimension he was in.

Ahsoka Tano’s fate was changed because of this fateful action on Bridger’s part, which allowed for a very different future to be avoided. However, when Ezra sought to use this newfound knowledge to save his former master, Kanan Jarrus, from his heroic sacrifice on Lothar, Ahsoka talked him out of using the gateway to change that event because of the negative repercussions it could have had.

While the World Between Worlds presented an opportunity to alter events, it also did so with a limited window of time. Because of its ability to alter the outcomes of various events in the galaxy’s timeline, this place could be wielded for both good or evil purposes. As a matter of fact, none other than Emperor Palpatine himself sought to find access to this place so that he might obtain ultimate power. Fortunately, Ahsoka and Ezra found a way to close the doorway to this place — or, at least one of them.

Although the doorway to the World Between Worlds disappeared along with the temple on Lothar, it doesn’t mean it was the only access point to this important locale. It would seem a place so ripe with story possibilities would exist with more than just one doorway. So, for the sake of argument let’s say that such an entrance exists for this dimension.

If so, then this could set up a canon equivalent to Star Wars Infinities where those entering could see — and if need be — change certain events. Yoda once commented that the future is always in motion, which means that there are many possible directions that can be taken. This seems as logical a solution to repairing any damage done to our beloved franchise while still allowing those scenarios to exist.

The World Between Worlds also allows for the original Expanded Universe to exist with Mara Jade, Jacen and Jaina Solo, as well as Ben Skywalker, the original offspring to be named after Ben Kenobi. It also means the Star Wars Lego universe and even the infamous Star Wars holiday universe could exist here.

But — most importantly for us fans — it would be a way for Star Wars to reboot itself in much the same way that Marvel has done over the years with the Hulk, Punisher, and Spider-Man films. This also includes the soon to be, Fantastic Four and X-Men films. So, if Marvel can do it, why not Star Wars?

One possible way of re-introducing the World Between Worlds would be to have Doctor Aphra, the intergalactic archaeologist that once worked for Darth Vader, to seek it out. Whether this would be done through the comic books or live-action, this would be a credible way of making amends for Disney’s past mistakes.

The only real problem in executing this reboot would be in reuniting the original cast since some have died and others are no longer interested. This could also be a clever way of continuing the series with a new cast of actors portraying the original characters. The reason this could be possible is shown in examples such as the upcoming live-action Spider-verse film and DC’s film/television projects that have introduced alternate versions of the same characters.

So, what do you all think? Would any of you be interested in seeing the World Between Worlds re-introduced and used to reboot the Star Wars films? Should, or shouldn’t it be done? Please feel free to express your opinions in the comments section below.