Mini Series Darth Plagueis the Canonized (Spoilers)

While I mostly enjoyed the Acolyte, this makes me think that if they do want to make a story about Plagueis, then it should be a story about him and not one that only introduces him as a sequel hook cameo. Because, as happy as his appearance made me, I also felt cheated by the fact that it’s all we got. And that blame is solidly on the storyteller for waiting till the end and giving us so little. I get that this show was not his story, but then the question is, why not?

I don’t think creators are beholden to fans’ expectations or desires. But I also feel like Disney’s SW has done a lot of sidelining of otherwise central characters over the years. Sometimes this was unavoidable, such as with the OT characters. But that’s not always the case, and yet it’s a pattern.

 

The best option is Qimir as the main character with Darth Plagueis as the supporting character. You can never make the Sith lord master the main character.

 

Why not?

 

Its not mutch you can do to develop an already evil sorcerer Sith. He is a plot device to either the plots of other characters.

 

I don’t necessarily agree. Character development isn’t so much about a character changing as the story progresses as it is about the story revealing more to the audience about the character.

In this case, the audience doesn’t know almost anything about Plagueis, not canonically. So any story where we get to see him as an actual character and not just a cameo would involve development. It worked for the Plagueis book, after all, though we did see his ascent to mastery and his fall. But he was evil throughout, that wasn’t something that changed.

The real reason I can’t see a Plagueis series working is practical. Having a main character who is primarily created via CG special effects would probably be extremely expensive. Unless they found a way to create the character primarily through practical effects. But Muuns’ physiology makes that unlikely.

 

What I always remember from the release of the Darth Plagueis novel were the multiple interviews James Luceno gave at the time explaining how the book came about and what the takeaway from the story was meant to be in the end.

People forget or didn't know that the Plagueis novel got cancelled at one point. Luceno submitted a draft and Lucasfilm was not pleased. He figured it was due to him trying to tidy up things too neatly in a bow leading up to TPM. He said Lucasfilm felt Palpatine needed to be involved more. Basically, the story was going to be Plagueis setting up everything and Palpatine just hijacking it all in the end. Lucasfilm did not want this to be the case. As Luceno would say, they view Sidious as the great Satan of the Star Wars saga. There is no greater Satan or other Satan. There are bad guys, sure, but there's no greater evil lurking out there plotting and manipulating things. Certainly not in the events leading up to TPM. Sidious is the phantom menace.

So Luceno reworked the book and incorporated Palpatine more into the plotting and planning. He didn't make it too obvious, but Palpatine is present not long after Tenebrous is gone. Luceno said in an interview that he wanted the reader to take away from the character of Plagueis that he was wise and powerful, but that he got involved with a "human" he didn't fully understand. The subtle manipulations, the flattery, and so on weren't noticed by Plagueis. He didn't see that Palpatine was playing him from their first encounter. Plagueis was a bad guy who unfortunately ran into the Devil.

It's not so much that a Plagueis show or movie would cost a lot, though as has been mentioned it would, but that Lucasfilm would not know what the purpose of it would be without Palpatine. Thus, in the final episode of the Acolyte, while they gave the show one shot with Plagueis, they also inserted the potential of Palpatine IF there was going to be a second season. When Vernestra talks quietly to an unknown voice in a room by herself, requesting to see someone, it could be Yoda's secretary turning her down, but it could also be a voice meant to sound very much like Palpatine just in case the numbers for the show justify another season. If the show gets cancelled, it's not Palpatine. If the show goes forward, the great Satan is around manipulating things.... somehow.

 

Here are some new (to me) quotes from Leslye Headland about how she intended to tell the story of Plagueis. The Acolyte would have shown us his path toward acquiring the power he became legendary for. Headland thought that since the power involved women getting pregnant, then it should have its origin in women. Interestingly her wording suggests that she takes it as a given that Plagueis was responsible for Shmi’s conception of Anakin.

 

Maybe qimir was a projection of plageuis? As in -/ he was never there.

 

Maybe we dodged a bullet then because that last sentence blatantly contradicts the films.

 

How so? The movie famously left this ambiguous. Even the Darth Plagueis book left it ambiguous, though it suggested it had not been Plagueis directly who created Anakin but rather the Force in response to his actions. But in both cases it was deliberately left ambiguous.

 

Pretty sure George said Anakin was created by the Force. It's pretty clear in the film too given the Jesus allegory IMO

 

George Lucas has said (c. ROTS in the 2000s) said it's up in the air or ambiguous regarding Anakin's true origins:
https://archive.is/hClDM

 

It’s left ambiguous because the arch is incomplete with the ST neglecting to pick up and conclude this thread.

A draft of RoTS had Palps the daddy, but Lucas felt the motif too much on the nose. This gave impetus for the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis. There is so much happening in the Opera scene, I’m genuinely in awe that it was developed at the last minute. But it is another wonderful example of storycraft, borrowed from ANH, oozing with drama and pregnant with narrative ideas and new possibilities.


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