Discussion Dave Filoni’s Star Wars Film (It’s Heir to the Empire, folks. I know it, you know it!)

The idea that Ahsoka could take the Luke from a loose adaptation of Heir to the Empire is probably not far out of the realm of possibility. His baby is Ahsoka and he does seem to enjoy her popularity to the point of giving her the most stories in his projects.

 

I don't believe Ahsoka will be taking Luke's place... like at all. Luke is the prime Jedi in this period... and if (as we suspect) the New Republic/galaxy are under threat from Thrawn, then Luke will be pivotal and a very key player in that situation/story. I don't believe for a second DLF, and Filoni, would double down on the degradation of Luke's legacy, and effectively erase him from that era to have him be a bit player or cameo part. That's not going to happen IMO.

 

Its not about Erasing him. its a case of things are happening and Luke is off building his school or whatever.

I mean we are getting more and more force users post episode 6 all the time. Even Ahsoka being around is certainly a little odd that she wasn't part of the OT. But it is what it is.

 

There's also a practical reason for not having Luke in the film or having him in a reduced role and that's because Mark Hamill can't just come in and play the character as is, the character would have to be deepfaked. Would the producers be willing to have a deepfake character in a major role? It's possible of course, but I just don't see it happening.

 

So I'm guessing this is the December 2026 film. I only say that because, even with the WGA strike, the Rey film is more than likely further along. Will be nice to see Din and Grogu on the big screen.

 

It could go either way.

It makes perfect sense to have a feature film bring the OT main characters into starring roles in the Mando-verse story. The bigger budget of a movie makes it more likely too.

It seems like the OT characters would have an important role in this era. The big risk here is audiences reject CGI leads. The best case scenario is making an impossible movie - a Star Wars movie released in 1988 starring the actors of the OT. Sort of a redo of Epsiode 7. A movie that could kick off a trilogy that would make The Force Awakens more like Episode 10.

It’s also possible they are making a Mando-verse Avengers bringing D+ characters together for a big screen season finale. It’s a safer movie to make than CGI leads. And could be much bigger than a Tv series.

 

I don't think there would be any particular reason for them to make another trilogy just to make episode 7 now episode 10

Plus to do that worth wild you would need to fill in blanks for the ST, not just have a middle adventure with stuff that make fans feel better about the OT characters.

I think what TBOB did was make it look easy. we take for granted the amount of work that was put in because they did such a good job. But its when you look at other big budget movies that try and do de-aging or CGI people that you kinda realise its clearly quite difficult to pull off. And with TBOB im sure they really wanted to show off with it. but i ain't sure that really means they could carry a huge weight with it.

 

That has to be built into the plan to do an adaptation of Heir to the Empire right? For example, you don't plan to make an adaptation of Shatterpoint and swap out Mace for Kanan Jarrus. Not unless you have little regard for the source material. I'm not saying Luke is going to being the main character... this will probably be an ansemble piece, but I'm sure Luke will be a main player... otherwise it will suffer the same sort of backlash as TLJ. So, IMO, they'll either recast the role or achieve it via the technology they used on TBOBF... and Luke was a main character in that particular episode.

 

Didn't follow the last pages but the last thing I want to see in Filoni's movie is Luke as a main character. Bring on the Filoniverse (with a small Luke cameo).

 

What??? That’s not what I said.


I said make episode 7 ‘like’ episode 10.

Episode 7 would stay episode 7.


The reason to make another Trilogy taking place soon after Return of the Jedi starring the younger CGI OT actors as the OT characters is because that’s something Star Wars fans wish they got to see in the late 80s and early 90s.

The Thrawn Trilogy of books was fine but everyone would have preferred those be new movies.

It’s going to get easier. We know this experiment in terror - the CGI actor led movie is coming. And the budget for a big movie will is huge compared to a TV series,

This movie is coming eventually.

 

I dunno. It feels like wishful thinking to me that they would ever do movie where they CGI Han, Leia and Luke into fairly big movie carrying roles. Whether they can do it or not, personally I just don’t think they will.

It’s like another thing that would make fans really happy. A live action Clone Wars with Hayden, Ewan and whoever. Obviously that would require good de-aging. But could they do it with a movie with a good budget? surely they can putt it off right? Maybe. Do I think they will do it? Probably not.

 

I don't think we're yet at the point where they can do it in an inexpensive way... which is probably the key blocker currently, but ILM can quite clearly employ the technology to have a younger version of Mark Hamill (even if not 100%) be a main character in an episode of TBOBF. So they can clearly do it... and it will only get easier/cheaper. Also, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of re-casting characters. They already have Han Solo and Lando right? I think recasting the character is a reasonable option if they want to do stories with younger versions (as long as the story occurs pre or post the OT).

 

I feel like they won't recast Luke, Han and Leia post ROTJ. A younger Han is already recast but i don't think the actor will ever play post ROTJ Han.

IMO the moment they decided to do CGI was the moment they minimized how much they could do with these characters. Its like if they had recast they probably could have done a whole Luke Skywalker movie trilogy with this new actor. But because of the amount of work just to put him on screen with CGI... they are gonna be very cautious.

 

Personal feelings aside... it's much more likely that we'll see the OT characters again in Star Wars live action. I doubt DLF are just going to rule out using 3 of the most popular SW *ever* in new content... and I say that as a fan wedded to the original cast. It really wouldn't make sense to not use their most popular characters in a franchise that's not bound by time.

 

It’s really not the same thing. Seeing Han, Luke, and Leia’s next adventure after Return of the Jedi is unequaled in fan anticipation. Even more than the sequels we got with old Han, Luke, and Leia - people want to see a movie with those characters in silage ages to Heir to the Empire.

It’s inevitable we get it. The question is when and how. Do they wait for CGI magic to be easier? Do they put the priority on having Ford and Hamill being a part of it and do it now? Is it new actors at a later date?

Having the actors involved is a big incentive to do it now and be considered more legitimate.

 

Unfortunately that time has past. CGI recreations (no matter how great they look) aren’t going to generate the same level of hype as bringing the actual actors back did for the ST. Dave should just be focused on making a great film with the actors and characters he can still use. He can’t turn the clock back to the early 90s.

 

Why can’t the clock be turned back?

No, it will not have the anticipation of the real thing, the actual ST trilogy with the real actors had in 2015.

What is bigger news today? What makes a bigger splash now? Star Wars TV show the movie or Star Wars OT cast from the early 90s returns via special effects?

It’s probably TV show the movie but will be sold Mando-verse Avengers. It’s safer and easier.

 

Alot of things are bounded by time. Thats why i brought up a live action Clone Wars because there would be age related reasons as to why it may be abit tricky to do. There is also things like how could they use dooku again? CGI Lee? If they really wanted to commit to a task like that. im sure its possible. Personally I just don't buy they are committed into it

Why haven't we got an animated show about Han, Leia and Luke after episode 6? something that would be easy to do and also potentially just as good as their previous animated shows. So whats the excuse? Just because they want to do a movie where they CGI the faces onto stand in actors.

I do think whats bounded by time has affected Star Wars in some ways. And its a fan wish to be able to revist time periods that may seem impossible to do.

 

Because Carrie is gone and Harrison and Mark are too old to play the characters in this time period. Deepfake is great for a couple minutes of screen time but I have serious doubts that they want to use it to recreate the OT heroes in main roles.

The great thing is they don’t have to. They have Ahsoka and the Ghost crew to fill those roles now. They can build on these newer characters and give them a great adventure like the OT heroes had while Luke, Han and Leia appear sparingly.

 

What if the animated show about Han, Leia, and Luke after episode 6 is instead a series of movies that mixes live action and ‘photo-real’ animation?

 

So this film is meant to be the culmination of the SW-TV-verse right?

If so, I hope it plays on the dramatic stakes and our past relationships to the recurring characters and their escapades so we have an emotional arc to go through with them.

Maybe bring in a sense of closure. (Even ANH did that in one film in spite of what it spawned).

I hope the introduction of different characters from TV doesn't just tickle a sense of "familiar charcters in a new adventure".

I'm not getting a huge amount of emotional arc from TBOBF S1 and TM S3 that I'm bothered about, but am hopeful we might get some from Ahsoka S1 - it being most directly relevant to the plot of this film - and maybe some (more) elements from Andor S2.

Throwing in the OT-3 in any major way would probably be too much to do in a single film.

 

Very good point. This movie is supposed to be a culmination of the TV series where Luke plays a small role and Han and Leia have yet to appear. Doesn’t common then say that the main characters are probably gonna be the characters from the TV shows? Din Djarin, Grogu, Ashoka, Hera, Sabine, Ezra, Thrawn. Not Luke, Han and Leia.

 

Not to get too off topic in here, but this is something I just thought of based off of these points:

I knew that this movie was announced as a "wrapping up" of multiple SW series that they've had / will have on Disney+ (and pre-Disney+ with TCW and Rebels). Including The Mandalorian and Ahsoka in the mix, it's a lot of content all being brought together in what is hopefully an excellent conclusion.

So... the part I hadn't thought about before; I actually hope that it's not just a culmination of those series, but a culmination of canon SW series in general. Meaning that going forward, there aren't more series, be they animated or live action, that they think up and put on D+. Something small and non-canon like Visions would be fine, but nothing larger or more significant than that. I feel like the Kenobi series should already be done after its run (and it's currently listed as concluded), and Andor will be done after its second season. Even upcoming series like Skeleton Crew and The Acolyte will be done before this movie comes out. It could be a pretty significant opportunity to mark a return to SW's focus being on theatrical movies again.

 

I’ve never disagreed with you more, my friend. Give me as many Star Wars shows as possible!

 

Hmm… not even about TLJ? Really, though, you do prefer SW to be movies over TV shows, right? I think you’ve said that. But you might just want a lot of both, haha.