Star Wars should follow the idea that Walking Dead did about how to handle differing storylines

I just discovered The Walking Dead this year and think the television show is really, really good. I think Star Wars should handle there various storylines the same way The Walking Dead did.

When the TWD television show premiered they created a clear separation between the tv series and the comics. Although the show does borrow things from the comics it goes on its own path (creating characters that were not in the comics or having characters from the comics do different things).

The fans of Walking Dead are completely fine with this because they know that the two forms of storytelling are separate universes. They view the comics and television show complimenting each other as opposed to contradicting each other. I recently watched a playthrough of the Walking Dead video game off of youtube (which is a great story in and of itself) and in the latest episode that aired on Sunday they showed a map and the camera zoomed in on the town that was heavily focused on in the game. So I thought they may try to connect the show and the video game with each other and mentioned it on a Walking Dead board and they said no they can show some easter eggs but nothing more than that because the game is canon for the comics but not for the television show.

It would be cool if they could crate a clear separation like that in Star Wars for the things you see onscreen and the things you read on paper.

 

Why do you want them separate?

They have always been supposed to be one. Technically.

 

Part of the problem is that so much of Star Wars is on paper, and fans of that want to see it reflected or depicted in film/TV, since that's the medium SW began as. For many other fans, they only care about what's on film/TV, so they likely see that separation already existing, and either don't care if new film/TV SW tramples over the books/comics/games or PREFER it to, which is a little different than what Walking Dead and Hellboy do (to cite another property where the creator's established that the different mediums are basically alternate universes; Hellboy movies aren't tied to the Hellboy comics' continuity, nor are the animated movies beholden to either despite the same voice actors playing the roles as in the live-action movies--I think only the books & comics share a continuity).

The Hellboy model wouldn't quite work with Star Wars, tho. I'd love it if everyone could have their cake & eat it, too: the movies & TV series incorporate elements of the EU where appropriate (streamlining post-ROTJ stuff in particular to fit the new continuity we'll likely see with the ST, but keeping certain elements in SOME form, ala Thrawn posing a challenge for the heroes a few years after Endor, for the most common example--with or without an insane, evil Jedi clone as an ally, but not steamrolling things willy-nilly; for example, not throwing K'Kruhk to the slaughter in REBELS just to have a somewhat 'known' Jedi get killed off, since the EU already establishes that he lives over a century beyond the OT... it just hasn't shown exactly where he was DURING the OT or when he emerged and become a Jedi 'again'/joined Luke's Jedi Order), and then do like DC does and have a bunch of direct-to-DVD animated movies that depict popular stories/arcs from the comics & books, in a variety of styles. Some more 'adapted' than others, but still more-or-less in the same continuity. The DC ones are tailored to basically be stand-alones, but the stories they're adapted from are (mostly) from a single continuity. That way we could see the Thrawn Trilogy adapted (from the books rather than the comics, IMO) with Leia being pregnant & giving birth to Jacen & Jaina, Luke & Mara going from foes to something like friends, etc, even if the ST and/or supporting material ignores Thrawn, or has Leia having kids years earlier/later, whatever.

One suggestion that's been made often, even by George I think, is that there's two universes: one that's just the movies & TCW, one that includes the movies/TCW and the rest of the EU. Going forward, it'll probably be similar to that, maybe with a 3rd universe added: Movies/TCW/Rebels/spinoffs for one, PT/OT/TCW & old EU for another (possibly including Rebels), and Movies/TCW/Rebels/spinoffs & new EU for the third.

...what was the question again?

 

Just was stating that The Walking Dead has a good model on how to separate the two forms of media and that was to simply make them separate universes. If the television show chooses to borrow some things from the comics and change them around a bit the fans are completely fine with it because they know that in the t.v. shows universe the events of the comics (and now video games) never took place.

 

Wouldn't work, would probably end up a mess

 

That's possible to. One thing that TWD has going for it that Star Wars perhaps wouldn't is that Robert Kirkman is in charge of both the television show and the comics. Where as Star Wars doesn't have that same structure and lots of different people are trying to get their hands in the cookie jar.

Lol, be kind of nice seeing all the dough rolling in when you run the most successful television show currently on tv plus one of the most successful comics currently going.

 

Can't really comment the Walking Dead-part because I'm completely clueless about that fandom (I haven't seen any of the episodes), but some separation will be made once ep 7 arises. Some will be fine with it, some will encourage a new EU, and some will be very vocal about their current EU shifting into AU. I guess that's life.

 

Will be interesting to see if any authors will still write for the storylines of the EU that got retconned by the movies. All those EU characters that got thrown into non-existence in the movie world will they still have a future in writing or will their story end as well because nobody is willing to write for them anymore. That will be interesting to see.

 

That is something I never understood. Why does it matter? Everyone is entitled to his/her personal continuity. All the authors, comic book artists, heck, even the fanfiction writers hold their own canon dear. Ep7 will not change that. I was involved in the HP fandom for many years, writing many stories after book 5 and still enjoyed book 6-7 immensly. That's why I won't have many problems after ep7 either.

 

So... what you want is the way the EU has worked for the past 35 years.

 

I dunno. Maybe?