Lit How should Disney handle the Old Republic Era?

While the old ToR era got nuked, there have still been various references in the new canon to 1000+ before TPM.

From a reference to the hundred year darkness, mandos vs jedi, Darth Bane, and even a 6,000yr old Sith Shrine on Coruscant.

These all have potential to create multiple stories spanning several ancient eras. A goldmine for Disney to eventually exploit.

And while I do expect future books/comics in the ancient past, I think ToR era should eventually expand into TV/Film. To gain more star wars fans besides the old EU ones.

Of course trouble could arise with this. Setting something so long ago means Disney loses the advantage of OT and ST characters. Sure the PT films introduced new characters, but that era had the benefit of seeing younger OT people. Also various new characters had a connection to OT ones. With the heavy marketing on the OT and ST eras, and the characters that come from those periods, to me it seems challenging to sell a whole "new" era. A time in which none of the characters fans grew to love in the films are alive.

Yes Rogue One was a success, and it was full of new characters. But it also had the benefit of OT dudes appearing, and being set in a very familiar time period.

While I would like to see a new trilogy after the ST is done, set in ancient days, It would be no surprise if Disney went ahead with Episode 10. Continuing to market and add to the success of the ST characters.

If no films, then I wish an animated series came about (preferably mandalorian wars, could also introduce Revan). Unfortunately something like that would run into problems the show Rebels doesn't have. As I mentioned earlier, no film characters to improve popularity. A new era that many star wars fans would not be familiar with. It being darker then Rebels and having a bigger budget would also make sense to represent the era. More work needed to create tech/appearance of an older GFFA. Sadly all that has been said, would have trouble coming about if Disney takes the likely path of keep pushing star wars into the future beyond ST with new films.


So fellow fans, what is your view on Disney and whether or not they will create canon material set long before TPM?

Do you think we will ever see the day of the ToR era going beyond books/comics/games?

Should Disney begin to dabble with ToR era after the ST is done?

Could ToR material eventually become popular, not just in old EU fan crowds?

 

They should make it abundantly clear that they wish to tell their own story, separate from the one established by Bioware.

If I have learned anything from the X-men movies vs. the comics, it's that if you're going to adapt an established story, you had better do it *EXACTLY* as the fans expect, or not at all.

 

Considering the X-Men movies do quite well without slavishly following the comics, I'd say the reverse is true.

 

Do NOT go farther back than 1000 years before TPM for the first opening of a new major historic era. That would make it quite a bit more managable in developing a history and progression of tech (forwards and backwards) than starting with 4k, 5k, or even 25k earlier.

 

So in other words, show Darth Bane and the last generation of many Sith?

After all the fall of the Sith and rebirth into Rule of Two happened around 1000 years.

If that period of the final Sith vs Jedi war before 1000yrs of peace is popular, then Disney could start to show an even further past. One that shows the Sith at a stronger level then in Darth Bane's era or explore the mandolorian threat.

 

Bingo. And let ideas of further history develop as that period itself is explored. Plus, Yoda is 900 and Maz is over 1000. Maz likely lived through that period, and Yoda certainly was only a few decades removed. There are clear touchpoints with the current era that could be explored - plus aspects of the history have already been touched upon, as has been noted. It's the next 'Prequel' Era that makes sense to explore. In OT, they teased the Clone Wars. PT/TCW/Rebels teased the last great War, 1000 years prior. Makes sense if you're going to move backward, to go with what has been teased the most. And the Propaganda book makes it sound like there is already a general rough outline for the key events ending that era. It makes sense to me as the next great era to open up for all forms of storytelling.

 

I agree with that. Do the Rogue One approach of showing off the big history changing event but adding a little bit of that mystery to stuff that happened in the past.

 

A remake of the original KOTOR games with enhanced graphics would be nice, I think a lot of people would buy it and I don't think there's anything in those games that contradicts the canon so I see no reason to write a completely new story. And once there's enough hype, a live action Netflix series with accompanying books and comics.

 

But there's a whole era of Star Wars fleshed out with a lot of stories, characters, planets, etc. that doesn't contradict canon at all. Once Disney decides to do something about the Old Republic era (and I'm sure they will eventually because there's a big demand), rewriting all of it wouldn't make sense and I don't think it would live up to the original.

 

There is pretty much zero chance of KotOR-TOR being recanonised wholesale unless it's as an in-universe work of fiction.

Where the Eternal Empire is, like, the equivalent of Nazis hiding on the moon.

 

I'm not a fan of Disney recanonizing anything. That includes obscure lore like the hundred year darkness.

If Disney wants to explore this era it should be entirely different.

Not that I'll be reading it.

 

They should touch upon the Bane story, I'm not sure about the KOTOR era, I like it as it is. TOR was rather meh to me, so they an leave that alone.

 

Thought bombs, wooden ships and people with hooves for starters.

 

While I don't want ToTJ nor KoToR to become canon exactly how they were, elements should return to canon. At least that way Disney doesn't have to create everything from scratch.

Take Revan and the mando wars for example. You could still have a story about a Jedi (later named Revan) who took part in a war against the Mando but fell to the darkside at the end of it. While removing the whole ancient Sith Emperor (including a secret Sith Empire) and brainwashing from it.

When it comes to KoToR, Disney could make changes such as Revan never given a fake identity. Also the star forge not existing. This period doesn't need a superweapon.

On the topic of ToTJ, I think it would be best to have a canon version of Exar Kun, responsible for the Jedi vs Sith event before the mando threat.

But with changes that work better in the new canon. Such as Exar Kun not being tempted by an actual sith ghost (since they can't do that new canon wise). Nor would Exar Kun become a ghost himself.

If he ever does return, I hope Disney keeps him wielding his original blue double bladed lightsaber. It creates an image that is unique for a Sith, because they rarely wield non-red.

 

I'd like to see new stories and characters. I was dissappointed when the name "Hundred-Year Darkness" was canonized for
the event that birthed the Sith.

 

I hate it they treated the EU as non-canon yet have mined it like grave robbers.

 

If anything, the Old Republic Legends stuff showed us that brand new stories could be told without destroying the previous continuity. Because that's exactly what KotOR did...the story was set 4,000 years in the past so that it wouldn't interfere with anything that George Lucas was doing. Disney could very easily have done the same by setting TFA 200+ years after ROTJ, but they didn't because...they wanted Han, Luke and Leia (none of whom were critical to the story) in it to get moviegoers to the theaters. Also, 200 years after ROTJ would allow for a slightly more plausible explanation as to where the hell Starkiller Base came from.

 

Well how far back do they want to start? 5,000 years? 10? 25 like in Legends or 37,000 if you add the Tho Yor ships. Or 100,000 if you include the Celestials.

I think the oldest canon event was the coded Jedi signal that hasn't been "used in 2,000 years" that came from Mortis.

 

TFA could of been a "fresh start" instead of a ruined OT Big 3.

 

If their going to slap dash Legends and NuCanon stuff together than I'm not interested.

Having a Sith empire on Coruscant and entirely different IU history is perfectly reasonable to me.

It shows disrespect to Legends authors and creators that their stuff is mined and yet treated like flotsam to be pulled and jetted around.