Lucasfilm Brings Order to ‘Star Wars’ Galaxy of Movies, Comic Books, Novels, TV Shows, and Video Games
The galaxy far, far away is looking to get more organized.
The many, many characters and events that make up the sprawling "Star Wars" saga will soon be part of one cohesive unit as the gang at Lucasfilm is looking to make the stories told in comic books, novel tie-ins, television series and video games as 'official' as those in the feature films.
It's long been accepted that the "Star Wars" feature films represent true "Star Wars" canon, with material from the other mediums (known as the "Star Wars Expanded Universe") usually only serving as elaborate fan fiction. Now, Lucasfilm Story Group is taking the gargantuan task of making everything count.
"'Star Wars' Canon is now determined by the Lucasfilm Story Group which [Pablo Hidalgo] and I are both a part of," recently tweeted Leland Chee, explaining that the organization "has a hand in all facets of 'Star Wars' storytelling, including movies, TV, games, and publishing."
[Related: Tupac Shakur: Jedi Master?]
Chee also revealed that the "primary goal" of the Lucasfilm Story Group was to do away with any hierarchy between the movies and spinoff material, eventually creating one cohesive canon across the entire franchise. "More so than ever, the canon field will serve us internally simply for classification rather than setting hierarchy," he tweeted.
Chee declined to comment as to when fans might notice things getting a little more "cohesive," though sometime in 2015 is probably a good guess with "Episode VII" being released and the "Star Wars" comics being moved from Dark Horse back to Marvel.
There's no word as to what, if any, elements from the existing "Star Wars" spinoff material might be kept as 'canon' and what might be scrapped. The comics and novels have often gone hog wild with weird ideas and characters, such as Jaxxon, a mercenary/smuggler that looks like a rabbit (and whose ship is called, appropriately enough, the Rabbit's Foot), and the 'Death Troopers,' zombie Stormtroopers that were featured in Joe Schreiber's 2009 novel "Death Troopers". It's probably safe to assume the multiplayer online role-playing game "Star Wars Galaxies" won't get resurrected (Sony stopped play in 2011).
[Related: 15 Frenzy-Worthy Films of 2015]
There have been a few comic book storylines and novels that have taken place after the events of "Episode VI - Return of the Jedi," featuring Han and Leia getting married and having three children (twins Jacen and Jaina, and later Anakin) and Luke marrying Mara Jade, the redheaded assassin that was once sent to kill him. It's been rumored that "Star Wars: Episode VII" might feature some of these elements — which, to be honest, would actually be pretty cool, and a strong possibility when you consider the fact that J.J. Abrams wasn't exactly loyal to 'official' canon when he was rebooting "Star Trek."
No matter what, you can almost guarantee that absolutely nothing from the infamous "Star Wars Holiday Special" will be included in the new multi-tiered "Star Wars" universe ... not even a reference to that joyous of Wookiee holidays, Life Day.
"Star Wars: Episode VII" will hit theaters on Dec. 18, 2015.