When a franchise is around for four decennium , it can get impossibly ungainly to try and grasp its traditional knowledge — and Star Wars canon is no exception . Here ’s a guide to the bloodline of Star Wars Canon , the rise and fall ofone of the most prominent Expanded Universes in fable , and where the saga stands with Disney today .
Why thrive Universes Are crucial
Header Image Credit : cut across art for the Trade Paperback of Dark Horse ’s adaptation of Splinter of the Mind ’s Eye , byDuncan Fegredo
A New Hope (For Merchandising)
When Star Wars first make out out , nothing much was expected of it — especially on the merchandising front , which is why the in - hindsight extremely savvy move of Lucas retaining much of the rights to merchandise for the film ultimately move around into a huge source of revenue for the Divine . But as the film series explode in popularity with the passing of what would later be call A New Hope , there was very obviously no real design for spinoff and tie - in selling . It finally happened , of course , thanks to the rampant desire for more Star Wars — but it was scattershot and hectic , all standalone , separate project — you had novelisation of the picture , audio drama adaptations , Marvel ’s line of comic books , one off stories like notorious Splinter of the Mind ’s Eye . Lucas did n’t really care about any kind of canon — he only care about the movies he made , everything else was auxiliary ( a impression Lucas has carried ever since ) .
By 1991 , however , that was going to change . stake in Star Wars was decline now that Return of the Jedi had been out for 9 years — the Kenner toyline had long since roll up , as had Marvel ’s comics and other railroad tie - in fiction . Droids , Ewoks and the two turgid TV film had n’t really reignited the Star Wars spark on a mainstream level . Lucas Licensing began to design a new approach to Star Wars fabrication to avoid the relatively chaos of the 1980s : Instead of a serial of one - off novels , the Holy Scripture would set about a new , uninterrupted storyline in an effort to flesh out the wide of the mark Star Wars world curtly after the events of the celluloid – as long as it did n’t interpose with what had been prove by the movies , that is . Lucasfilm approached Timothy Zahn , then known for his skill fiction inadequate stories and his body of work on the first Cobra trilogy and Blackcollar , to indite a new trilogy of novels that would later be knight as ‘ The Thrawn Trilogy ’ .
successor To The Empire was an instantaneous success , a New York Times best seller that sling Star Wars back into the minds of the mainstream . The Expanded Universe was born .
The EU Strikes Back
From that point on , the enlarge Universe lucubrate , chop-chop . There was the rest of Zahn ’s trilogy of novels , followed by more and more , covering everything from Luke ’s newly establish Jedi Academy to the exploits of Wedge Antilles and the Rogue Squadron . There were Dark Horse ’s comics , telecasting games like Dark Forces featuring new character work in the background of the movies , huge tie - in multimedia system events like tail of the Empire — the EU did n’t just start to flesh out what happened after the motion picture ( Han and Leia had kidskin who became Jedi , Luke married the former personal dark jedi assassin of the Emperor , Chewbacca got killed byLITERALLY HAVING A MOON FALL ON HIM . Like I said , a destiny of poppycock happens ) , it started expatiate backwards as well , filling in the effect between the film , curtly before them , and then even far , far before them with the expansion into the ‘ Old Republic ’ , a period of clip about 4,000 year before Episode IV ( a scope that would gain massive appeal in the mid-2000 ’s thanks to Bioware ’s seminal RPG Star Wars : knight of the Old Republic and its subsequence , The Sith Lords ) . Star Wars mania was touch a fever pitching again , even with out a movie to keep company it , although it would receive yet another jerking with the theatrical outlet of the Special Editions , and then The Phantom Menace in 1999 . By 2000 , the Expanded Universe was getting a chip hectic , despite Lucas ’ own invariant refrain that the pic trumped all else in terminus of a canon . In parliamentary law to devise the EU , Lucasfilm bring in Leeland Chee to createThe Holocron , an intragroup database that would sift fictional elements of the Star Wars universe into several clear-cut class of ordered canon :
G - Canon : The ‘ George ’ canon that was all six picture show
T - Canon : A later add-on with the release of Clone Wars that covered the prescribed tv set shows
C - Canon : ‘ Continuity ’ Canon , affiliation - in media like books and cartoon strip that connect the clip catamenia between G and T canon properties ( this is where most of the EU stick out )
S - Canon : ‘ Secondary ’ Canon , elements from crosstie - in media that were deal appurtenant
N - Canon : Non - canyon ‘ what if ’ story , like the pop Star Wars Tales comic anthology
Even though the EU was technically an auxiliary , non-‘true’-canon branch , fans did n’t care at this point . It had gotten so expansive and comprehensive that to them , it was just as valid as the movies . The EU survived the spill of a unexampled trilogy , and was in fact bolster by it – a whole new ‘ official ’ menstruation of sentence in the Star Wars universe to tell story in . The 10 twelvemonth between Episode I and Attack of the Clones proved fertile earth for storytelling , as did the 3 twelvemonth - long Clone Wars fight itself , and then in the end the 20 class ‘ Rise of the Empire ’ geological period between Revenge of the Sith and the original trilogy . Even if diehard devotee brushed off the prequels , the EU was still there for their Star Wars reparation – Lucas kept away from it , keep them happy , Lucas did n’t care for it , keeping him happy .
This began to change with the creation of the Clone Wars animated series , which in Lucas ’ eyes , as it was a Lucasfilm animation , was the first ‘ official ’ entry in the Star Wars saga since Revenge of the Sith . Fans had long had narrative of Anakin , Obi - Wan and the Jedi Order ’s battles during the battle , but to Lucas none of that mattered – what happened on the show , now in the ‘ T - Canon ’ square bracket in prescribed canyon above the tie - in media , was what really pass off . At first , sports fan of the EU did n’t mind , but as the Clone Wars progressed , it turned to the EU for story ideas and characters , changing what was once in the eyes of many ‘ true ’ canyon into something whole newfangled . Characters like Jedi MasterEven Pielldied in Clone Wars before they had in the strip . Others , likeAsajj Ventress , take on wholly Modern backstories . These were all relatively minor incidents , but perhaps the most controversial change came with the origination of the Mandalorians in the show ’s 2d time of year . Mandalorian gild was completely alter for the serial publication , turn them into a now peaceful civilisation who had done by with their wild ways — vastly different from the quasi - tribal , honour - bound Clone trooper trainers render in the then massively pop Republic Commando novels by Karen Traviss . The overriding of Traviss ’ employment cause a huge stink not just among devotee , but with Traviss herself — she unceremoniously cut short the planned end of her Commando Book and be active on .
Since then , the ‘ conflict ’ between what was canyon and what was not in the EU largely died down — especially as lover became more accepting of Clone Wars as it got progressively better during its run . The EU was in a relatively calm property — but all that would change very before long .
Return Of The Streamline
But then came the Disney purchase out . For a while after the acquisition , thing remained comparatively provisional in the way they were – EU media still came out , very little was yet to be know about the plans for the fresh trilogy of movies . But then on April the 25th , 2014 , the announcement that many fans of the EU dreaded at last happened : The Star Wars Canon was being reshuffled and streamlined , and the EU was formally no more . The upcoming trilogy would be told on a clean , post - Return of the Jedi slating , the sometime EU now a ‘ Legend ’ recede to meter – and Leeland Chee spearheadeda new account groupto trim the fat of the Star Wars galaxy .
Disney appoint a mathematical group to determine a newfangled , prescribed Star Wars canon
Suffice to say , rooter gross out out and then were pretty much straight off confused . While they lamented the loss of theirfavourite EU stories , Disney did footling to really aid finish the confusion , what between their own roundabout means of let out thatthe ‘ new ’ universe had technically started month beforehandin a Star Wars Insider short story , and then by inadvertently produce a flakey schism about the official timeline of the movie ’s events with not one , buttwo prescribed methodsof chronicling the moving picture . There were a lot of unanswered doubtfulness about what exactly was conk on .
Which is essentially where we are right now .
The Canon Awakens
So where are we going onwards ? Well , it ’s in reality simpler to infer official Star Wars Canon now than it ever has been . When Disney and Lucasfilm announced their architectural plan for the Star Wars universe , they revealed that from that peak on , unlike how it had been in the yesteryear , every piece of Star Wars medium would be canyon , starting off with :
All six current movies
The Clone Wars
The Force Awakens as well as Episodes VIII , IX , and the spinoff movies
Star Wars : Rebels
The then - upcoming novel Star Wars : A New Dawn and Marvel Comics series
It ’s an interesting angle to take with the Star Wars world , where everything is ‘ official ’ and it ’s all connecting together — it ’s similar to the approach of at least the cinematic side of Disney ’s other self-aggrandising media accomplishment , Marvel Comics . But for all the appearance of being a fresh new start , and a streamlined attack to the franchise , it ’s largely similar to at least what Lucas had always plan : The creations that come instantly out of Lucasfilm are what matter , it ’s just now that the ancillary cloth that was once separate is now include .
That say , it ’s notexactly all as rosyor simple as you might expect . First of all , there ’s the question of the still - active and ongoing presence of Star state of war : The Old Republic , the Bioware MMORPG lay thousands of years before the film in the popular Old Republic setting . As the game continued to be support post - Disney acquisition , the question if the plot ( and thus the setting and previous routine of fiction connected to it ) was technically now part of the approved canyon still hang over it – not even the developers really know . It ’s far enough remove from the consequence of the films that there ’d be no harm in it being so , but it sits in a comparatively singular position as it lies in the oblivion between the ‘ Legends ’ and the ‘ New ’ Canon .
The continued existence of ‘ Legends ’ itself grow just as many dubiousness . When streamlining the canon , the old EU fabric did n’t completely go out . It was rebranded as ‘ Legends ’ content , capacity that , just as it had been in the past , could be mine for ideas by the prescribed canon – as John Jackson Miller eloquently put it , the thing about legends are that some of them are true . But by being in this sorting of halfway house where it can still be of use operate forward ( as well as the muddiness of inquire if new , official depicted object can be write for the ‘ Legends’-verse ) it means we ’re fundamentally leave with what we had during the heyday of the EU in the first situation , two separate , yet connected universes of fiction – it ’s just that one has a more expectant , loudly announced seal of approval stamped on it now . Only fourth dimension will secernate how they ’ll really interact going forward , but there ’s just as many questions environ the canon of the Star Wars saga now as there ever has been .
If I ’m sure of one thing however , we ’ll all continue to brabble and nitpick about it . It ’s what we Star Wars fans do !
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