Suvudu Universe

I  love Star Wars, I love the Star Wars Expanded Universe and I love continuity. Aside from the films my main Star Wars fandom is collecting the adult novels, so to say I am attached to the Expanded Universe and the characters that were birthed by it is an understatement. This week I’ve been thinking about continuity and the Expanded Universe based on the news of the comic book license returning to Marvel Comics and the increased internet chatter about the Lucasfilm Story Group and continuity.

While I was thinking about this stuff it struck me that somewhere my mind had changed, I had gone through the stages of grief over the Expanded Universe that we knew and looking forward to a new Expanded Universe, I realized that I want a reboot.

Realistically there is no way to tie up all the loose story threads and character arcs scattered across the Expanded Universe. Ending the old Expanded Universe almost seems necessary to me at this point as the franchise experiences a new rebirth in film, television and publishing. There is good news for fans of the Expanded Universe. The digital publishing revolution has made it possible for fans to get access to these stories in a cost-effective way for a publisher without having to justify costly reprints of physical copies of books. Random House has the Star Wars library digitized now, so there is no reason that fans should not be able to purchase these books for the foreseeable future in digital form. Dark Horse has also announced that fans who purchase their Star Wars comics digitally before the comic book license goes to Marvel will retain ownership of the issues they purchase in their Dark Horse digital account and will be able to access those issues in the future.

We do not yet know how Lucasfilm will handle continuity going forward, we do know some of the folks involved in making those decisions. Pablo Hidalgo is Lucasfilm’s Brand Communications Manager, Leland Chee is the Keeper of the Holocron, Carrie Beck is the Creative Content Strategy Director, and Dianna Williams is the Franchise Synergy Producer. What we do know is what Leland Chee and Pablo Hidalgo have said publicly about the goals and scope of this department which is not a brand new idea but group that has seemed to become more formalized and strengthened under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy and ownership by Disney.

Former Lucasfilm employee Bonnie Burton has a great summary of what the story group’s role and goals are on CNET. The story group will operate across all Star Wars fiction, films, television, games and publishing and will attempt to ensure a unified continuity and a single canon going forward.

A reboot seems necessary to make this new vision work going forward without tying the creative hands of all involved. It also allows for us to experience what is common in comics in particular, the reinvention and retelling of character’s stories and origins. A reboot doesn’t mean that we may never see a character again, but that we may see a new version of that character introduced in a way that makes more sense given what we know now about the films and television series produced by Lucasfilm. Mistakes will always be made but this will not only give fans of continuity the best chance at having a continuity that works, but also a way to experience new stories and new characters that are not bound by 20 years of interlocking narratives.

How Should Lucasfilm Handle An Expanded Universe Reboot?

There is a way to build upon elements established in the over two decades of Expanded Universe materials that would set the franchise up going forward and allowing a fresh jumping on points for fans of Star Wars new and old.

1) Begin With The Films:

Everything flows from the films. They provide the backbone of the Star Wars franchise, establish its rules and flavor. The story group will have the ability to peer into the future of the franchise films and keep the television, game and publishing lines on the right track and when necessary offer the ret-con course corrections that will eventually be needed.

2) Build On The Films With Television:

The next step in building a new continuity would be to integrate The Clone Wars animated series and Star Wars Rebels. Every other Star Wars television property should be thrown out of the new canon. The Clone Wars should be treated similar to the films because of the direct involvement of George Lucas. The Clone Wars tie-in material should not make the cut however and receive the same treatment as other Expanded Universe fiction. The inclusion of Rebels is an obvious decision as a new property with input from the story group in its production.

3) Keep The Map:

The story group should keep the galactic map. Keep the planets and their locations and build upon it by adding new planets, moons and sub-areas within what has already been created. It makes little sense to attempt to recreate the geography of the galaxy and it should have little to no impact on actual storytelling.

4) Keep The Species:

In a similar way that they should keep the galactic map, they should keep the myriad species that have been created over the years. Now they don’t need to keep specific species back stories from the Expanded Universe, but the species already created gives them a vast library to pull from. It doesn’t mean they cannot create new species but it makes the job much easier for storytellers and also provides fan service by seeing some favorite species return.

5) Reinvent Characters and Introduce New Ones:

Obviously the new fiction that is created in the Star Wars universe will involve introducing new characters. This doesn’t mean that we cannot see previously created Expanded Universe characters reintroduced. It means that if we see these Expanded Universe characters that  they should be treated as new and the storytellers should have the freedom to re-write back stories and change characterization to fit the new canon.

6) Launch Infinities Line and Re-brand Old Material:

Once the Expanded Universe is rebooted to match the new canon and fresh continuity, the back catalog of material should be re-branded as “Infinities” stories. This Infinities line could allow for future one-shot or mini-series stories that do not fit in the new canon but could satisfy the curiosity or hunger of fans for alternative stories.

No matter what Lucasfilm decides to do with the Expanded Universe I will be there because I enjoy the franchise and it’s stories. If I had the Gun of Command this is how I would arrange things going forward. One parting thought on a reboot…if it means more Chewie, then I think we can all agree its a good idea.