Home Entertainment Kathleen Kennedy talks STAR WARS canon and spin-off movies

Kathleen Kennedy talks STAR WARS canon and spin-off movies

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We’ve heard a lot about the proposed Star Wars spinoff films – the standalone movies set to be released in the years between the release of the Episodes VII, VII and IX – which is to say that we’ve heard a whole lot “coulda woulda shoulda”, but nothing actually concrete. Well, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has finally shed a little bit of light on their plans. Unfortunately, she may also just have brought some bad news to fans of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

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While in Singapore recently with the rest of the company’s bigwigs to celebrate the opening of the Sandcrawler Building – the new iconic looking home of Lucasfilm’s Singapore division – Kennedy spoke to the Straits Times (via Toys Revil) about whether or not the release of these standalone films would be “distorting the story threads laid down in the original saga,” as recent rumours surrounding a Boba Fett film with a tweaked origin story suggest.

“George [Lucas] was so clear as to how that works. The canon that he created was the Star Wars saga. Right now, Episode Seven falls within that canon. The spin-off movies, or we may come up with some other way to call those films, they exist within that vast universe that he created… There is no attempt being made to carry characters (from the standalone films) in and out of the saga episodes. Consequently, from the creative standpoint, it’s a roadmap that George made pretty clear.”

While Kennedy isn’t exactly clear on what she’s trying to say, there are still two things we can take away from that. Firstly, the standalone films will be doing just that, standing alone, and won’t be following the Marvel model of having a movie feature a single character and then that character shows up later in the bigger film. This may also imply – although this is admittedly reaching a bit – that characters in the standalone movies are ones that will not feature in the new Episodes at all. Which means that yes, those rumours about the first two films focusing on a young Boba Fett and Yoda are still going strong as those characters died on screen and thus will no longer be part of the main story.

And this is where my fellow Star Wars fanboys start demanding that I hand in my fanboy card, because as every self respecting fan knows, Boba Fett did not in fact die after falling into the Sarlacc pit in Return of the Jedi, but actually escaped in the Dark Empire comics. And this leads me directly the the second point that Kennedy’s statement raises.

This seems to be the first and thus far best sort of unofficially official statement we’ve received from Lucasfilm that they will indeed be adhering to George Lucas’ well publicized beliefs that the only Star Wars stories that should be considered canon, are the ones that he wrote himself (he famously revealed that he has never read/seen a single one of the Expanded Universe stories).

By only regarding the original and prequel trilogy as canon, it allows Kennedy, JJ Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, Simon Kinberg and co to create brand new stories that will actually surprise diehard fans, without having to perform narrative gymnastics to get around already established characters/stories that these fans will already know by heart. The very saddening flip side, of course, is that it relegates the last +-35 years’ worth of EU stories to nothing more than glorified fan fiction.

Last Updated: January 20, 2014

18 Comments

  1. I would have liked a Star Wars Episode -4000BBY

    🙂

    Reply

    • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

      January 20, 2014 at 14:51

      Oooooold Republic movies. Yeah. That would rock

      Reply

  2. Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

    January 20, 2014 at 14:03

    They have to include at least some canon not from the first six movies. Surely.
    Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy? No? But.. But.. it’s like the official unofficial episode 7, 8 and 9!

    I really hope they don’t can everything that has been created over the years 🙁

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      January 20, 2014 at 14:22

      There are 6 Star Wars movies? 😉

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

        January 20, 2014 at 14:30

        For canon purposes yes. Unfortunately. But how can he say he never read any expanded universe stories? That’s utter bull man

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          January 20, 2014 at 14:33

          I wouldn’t be too surprised if he hasn’t. I don’t think he likes the idea of other people writing stories in HIS universe.

          Reply

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 20, 2014 at 14:40

            He used the name Coruscant for the prequel movies. Timothy Zahn who wrote the Thrawn Trilogy which takes place a few years after ep6.

            There he names the imperial city which to that point had only been known as “The Imperial City” by Gearge Lucas.

            When they finally made Episode 1, 2 and 3 GL decided to keep the name Coruscant that was created by Zahn.

            So I’d love to know how he got to keep it if he never read any expanded universe

  3. Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

    January 20, 2014 at 14:26

    Wait wait wait….
    Just hold up.

    George Lucas says he has never read any of the expanded universe stories? That is utter hogswash!

    Point and case: Coruscant. The seat of the empire and originally the republic.

    It never had a name in the original trilogy. How did it get a name? When Timothy Zahn named it in his Thrawn Trilogy books and George Lucas then decided to use that name for the prequels (Ep I, II and III). So how can he say he never read a thing?

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      January 20, 2014 at 14:36

      Well, that’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

        January 20, 2014 at 14:41

        All this is starting to make me feel rather edgy about how the new movies are going to come out and what is going to happen.

        I really hope they don’t throw absolutely all EU canon out the window. It would do irreparable harm in the SW fan base

        Reply

        • Kervyn Cloete

          January 20, 2014 at 14:45

          Like I said, I’m torn on this issue. The EU, as much as I love it, has indeed become a giant burden on the movies due to the fact that it so thoroughly covers just about every inch of the timeline for the next few hundred years after ROTJ.

          And the problem was how to write a movie set in those few untouched portions of the timeline, that’s still accessible to the millions of audience members who had never touched an EU book in their life?

          Reply

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 20, 2014 at 14:50

            Sure. That is true and I agree with you.

            However there are a few core things that need to be taken in to consideration. Certain characters for example.

            Mara Jade. If she doesn’t appear or get referenced then it’s going to become a problem as it has become accepted that she exists (To the fans anyway).

            Or specific huge events. The new Jedi order. There have even been games made about it. Is that no longer considered canon as it isn’t part of or mentioned in the movies?

            Jayna, Anakin and Jason Solo? Yes no?

            You see, I’m ok if they mix it all up a bit and don’t take absolutely everything as canon. As you said it kills a lot of possibilities. But they must keep at least some things that is pretty much accepted as existing. Even if the way certain things happen isn’t the same as the EU.

            They don’t have to have Grand Admiral Thrawn lead the last vestiges of the Empire. But they can’t ignore Mara Jade which made an appearance within those books.

            That kind of thing.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            January 20, 2014 at 14:53

            Well if I remember right the new movie is supposed to introduce their kids, I’d be surprised if they didn’t go with their names, but then took them in a different direction to the EU work, or without some big changes.

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 20, 2014 at 14:57

            That I’d be ok with. As long as the characters exist and the most important turning points and events still exist

          • Kervyn Cloete

            January 20, 2014 at 15:02

            Yeah, I agree with you. The problem is that George Lucas does not. And now it seems, neither does Lucasfilm, after decades of doing the opposite.

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 20, 2014 at 15:04

            *cringes* One can still hold out on hope right?

    • Kervyn Cloete

      January 20, 2014 at 14:41

      Here’s the exact quote from an interview he did years ago:

      “I don’t read that stuff. I haven’t read any of the novels. I don’t know anything about that world. That’s a different world than my world. But I do try to keep it consistent. The way I do it now is they have a Star Wars Encyclopedia. So if I come up with a name or something else, I look it up and see if it has already been used. When I said [other people] could make their own Star Wars stories, we decided that, like Star Trek, we would have two universes: My universe and then this other one. They try to make their universe as consistent with mine as possible, but obviously they get enthusiastic and want to go off in other directions”

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Expanded_Universe

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

        January 20, 2014 at 14:46

        Mmmm. Ok. Jimmies slightly less rustled… Still I find it really difficult tto believe he hasn’t read a single story. It’s his life’s work. Surely he would want to check up and make sure things are right and notgetting out of hand with his creation?

        Reply

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