The Interconnected Star Wars Cinematic Universe

At the advice of @Pro Scoundrel I decided to make a thread discussion the connection of what I am calling the Star Wars Cinematic Universe.

This includes, the T.V Shows, (Animated and Live Action) along with the Movies (Sequels, Rogue One, Solo, etc) and well as books and comics.

What are the through lines you are seeing being developed?

How are the T.V Shows enchanting or decreasing the movies that came before ?

Are your views of what came before being effected by what is coming out now?

How are you seeing the development of the Star Wars Cinematic Universe

Please be nice, this is a constructive conversation to just see the Star Wars Universe Expand...A expanded universe as you will

 

The point of all of this is to have more Star Wars in a period full of great characters, not to necessarily tie things directly to the ST, although that will probably happen too.

 

I see - among other things - an attempt to rehabilitate The Last Jedi. This probably won’t go well, until they get Mark to come back for a real performance everything will be overshadowed. It will be the “Master Luke” material many fans had wanted all along, but deep faked. It will be a ghost of a cancelled Star Wars Sequel Trilogy that could have been, but never was.

from the other thread:

I think there are some major differences here, that bode ill for any attempt to flesh-out or “fix” the ST. With the PT, even the fans who disliked it for whatever reason were mostly onboard with the basic foundations of the story. Everyone agreed it needed to result in Anakin becoming Darth Vader, the Jedi order falling into exile, Palpatine becoming Emperor, etc. There was disagreement with how to get there, but everyone agreed on the destination because that had been spelled out in ANH. TCW is still the story of Anakin and Jedi falling apart, it is ultimately the “correct” story.

But with the ST, there has never been any consensus about it being the right way to end the saga, at least nothing comparable to consensus around PT.

 

Also folks this is MORE than just a Sequel Trilogy talk.

For all we know, Book of Boba may make idk...Solo more valuable in the long run.

Cassian is a Prequel to Rogue One and will hopefully enhance that film as well.

 

I see no issue of Star Wars expanding; Din Djarin is a new Mandalorian and his story is interesting as a CoTW and his involvement in the galaxy has re-introduced us to some great characters with great pasts, exciting futures and the need to know what has become of them.

 

I think by now it is clearly obvious that when Favreau and Filoni are developing new shows and characters and tropes, they have a blueprint of the "full picture" in their minds (and possibly across dozens of sketches, tables, powerpoints, spreadsheets etc. ) and they are actively trying to stay consistent to all of this. I am mentioning only these two, because it seems that whatever LFL meant by "course correction" a few years back, apparently included giving the keys to Star Wars to Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, metaphorically speaking.

Jon Favreau is now the creator of both live action Star Wars shows that currently exist, and I think it's safe to say that he will either be the creator, or at the very least the co-producer, of many to follow. Dave Filoni has gotten a promotion to Creative Director, and as new information emerges, it seems that he actually has a say even in shows that are produced and developed by people outside the "Mandoverse", such as "The Acolyte", and I think that's a great choice. Indirectly, Deborah Chow was assigned to Kenobi because of her involvement in The Mandalorian. It is safe to say that this entire team managed to create something very unique, and I am 100% in favor of Bryce Dallas Howard and other contributors receiving their own TV shows eventually.

I couldn't be more on board with a connected Star Wars Cinematic Universe, though I would name it differently, to separate it from other "cinematic universes". Perhaps the Star Wars Hyperspace Galactic Initiative. But to the point, I think that what Favreau and Filoni, and everyone else that will join that ship, will be actively trying to connect all the stories and the characters ever introduced in Star Wars, so that fans can enjoy the most out of these stories. I believe that in 10 years from now, after a dozen movies and maybe another dozen of shows (including the animated ones), we will have a very satisfying overview of what Star Wars is about.

More specifically regarding the various eras of Star Wars:

• Prequel Era: While it was never necessary to me, and I cannot stress this enough, I am still happy that a lot of people think that The Clone Wars "improved" the prequels in their eyes. It makes me happy to share the joy of enjoying the prequels with more people, and seeing them being recognized for what they are and appreciated more, and I think it was about time for people who work on Star Wars content to stop being afraid of having any prequel ties, because that led to very poor planning and a very bad execution in the sequel trilogy in my opinion
  
  
• Original Era: I will never ever understand the phrase "Star Wars needs to move away from the original characters and trilogy and give us new things". Why not both? First of all, this is an era that outside of the 3 original movies, had not been explored at all until about a decade ago. And then we got Rebels, Rogue One, Solo and The Bad Batch. Now we are getting The Mandalorian (and in extent, the Mandoverse) which one can consider as a direct continuation of the original trilogy events, but I will leave that for the next part. Why would we not want to get more of that stuff? The time between Episodes 3 and 4 is a whole 19 years, where you have a rebellion brewing, you have the early years in the lives of classic characters, and you have Darth Vader in his prime as a Sith. I don't care how many people don't want to see stories set in that era, but they can simply choose not to. I am all aboard on that trip, and cannot wait for Kenobi, Andor and any rumored Darth Maul project.
  
  
• Sequel Era: Well, I will address the elephant in the room because it's only fair to mention all eras. I don't care for the sequel trilogy. I think it ruins a lot of Lucas' storytelling, characters, tropes and at the end of the day, the most fundamental messages in Star Wars. But, it's out there now, and I think the chance of it being de-canonized, however much I would want so, is extremely slim and very close to zero, at least for many years to go. And since it's out there, there is bound to be some connectivity between current projects and the movies themselves. Honestly, the only veto I would have if I had a say in this, would be the return of Palpatine and the assassination of Luke's character. Any connection to anything else doesn't bother me much, and I am more than willing to see Favreau and Filoni make the sequels look better. Unfortunately those two vetos are big ones. They invalidate all of the pre-existing Star Wars stories to some extent. Having said that, I am more than excited to see where the Mandoverse will take us. I cannot wait to see what happens in Ahsoka, I cannot wait to see what happens in future The Mandalorian seasons, and I most certainly cannot wait to see what new TV shows LFL will give us after we go to the next phase. I don't think that F+F are investing in characters like Grogu, Din Djarin, Ahsoka and why not even Luke Skywalker, Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren and Bo Katan, only for the short term. I think that after all is said and done, those 30 years between ROTJ and TFA will be filled with animated and live action shows that will elevate Star Wars storytelling and connect all the eras together.

So, my short answer to that is "not much, but it only goes in a positive direction".

My opinion about the prequels hasn't changed in 20 years, loved them then, love them now. For me it's the most significant trilogy of Star Wars films in terms of propelling the big picture of Star Wars to new heights, and leading to a multitude of animated shows, novels (yes, the now so called Legends novels), games, comics etc, which all enhanced Star Wars so much. My opinion about the originals also hasn't changed, loved them as a kid, love them the same now, and I am excited about every additional content we got and will get in the future. My opinion about the sequels can only change in a positive way (can't go below rock bottom anyway), so I am almost looking forward to that and curious about how F+F might actually be able to do that.

 

Things are definitely going to be good, no doubt about that. After this Wednesday, we now have 23 live actions episodes across two series with more to come. If you told me this back in 2013 I would have told you NFW.

 

If Disney wants to make a Star Wars "Cinematic Universe," one would assume they need to start making cinema again.

 

I think people focus too much on the new content "building up" to the ST. Yes, there will be connections, but I think so much new content will be produced during this period that it will be easy for those who do not like the ST to simply ignore it and focus on these years following ROTJ.

 

Life and technology evolve, and so do languages and words
The TV shows are not even being watched on a TV by half the people. They are watched on a computer, a tablet, even a phone.
And what was a broadcast 20 years ago, is now an upload on a streaming platform where you can watch it whenever you want.
So everything and anything produced as an audio and visual medium, can easily be considered "Cinematic".
It doesn't have to have a theatrical release, and that's fine.

I agree. Other than some very loose connections to what will follow 25 years later, so far the two live action shows have minimal to almost zero connections to the ST. And that's why I am watching it and enjoying it to the full extent. The main cinematic event that these shows are building up to, will have nothing to do with the ST, and it will almost certainly include Thrawn and who knows what else.