In the hands of Disney, the Star Wars universe will expand forever

A hand rises from the sands of desert planet Tatooine, and with it Boba Fett, the universe’s most notorious bounty hunter, has returned. More than forty years after appearing in the classic Star Wars film Return of the Jedi (1983) had fallen into the Sarlacc monster’s mouth—a fall he could not possibly have survived. However, some characters are so loved that it’s only a matter of time before they rise from the dead. Like here, in the first episode of the new Disney+ series The Book of Boba Fett, of which a new ‘chapter’ is published every week.

Boba Fett has barely four lines of text in two of the three original Star Wars films (between 1977 and 1983) from creator and director George Lucas. So little that we can repeat them all here:As you wish”, „He’s no good to me dead”, „What if he doesn’t survive? He’s worth a lot to me”, „Put captain Solo in the cargo hold.He’s only on screen for six and a half minutes, and yet, thanks in part to a sophisticated merchandise campaign, he has become one of the most beloved Star Wars characters, alongside main characters such as Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Princess Leia and Han. Solo. Precisely that we know so little about him (Lucas’ prequel Attack of the Clones from 2002 later filled in more on Fett’s background), endeared him to fans.

‘You won’t live to see the final Star Wars movie‘, the US technology magazine headlined Wired in 2015 on The Walt Disney Company’s strategy for the Star Wars universe. The entertainment giant, including production company Lucasfilm, bought that in 2012 for more than 4 billion dollars. The core of that strategy is to expand the Star Wars universe, following the example of the superhero realm of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (also from Disney), into a ‘forever franchise’ – a coherent whole of series and films that refer to each other, and draw the viewer ever deeper into the parallel world. From a commercial point of view, if you’ve seen one Star Wars movie, you’ll want to see them all.

New Age

Initially, this meant a new trilogy of cinema films (2015-2019), which heavily relied on the original three films, and two separate spin-off films, Solo in Rogue One. After those films were somewhat lukewarm and the visitor numbers (although still huge) were somewhat disappointing, the Star Wars universe seemed to be coming to a head. Future film plans were canceled, or their status unclear.

The Disney Investor Day of 2020 showed that Disney does have big plans with Star Wars. In a slick video presentation Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced no fewer than ten new Star Wars film productions – the last two new feature films; the focus is on a large number of live-action and animated series – all exclusive to Disney’s own streaming service.

“We are entering a whole new era for the Star Wars universe,” Kennedy said. “We have a vast and expanding timeline in Star Wars mythology spanning more than 25,000 years of history in the universe,” Kennedy said. story.”

The success of the long-running animated series The Clone Wars (2008-2020) by George Lucas and Dave Filoni, but most notably the first season of The Mandalorian (2019), the first Star Wars live-action series (produced by Jon Favreau, who played a key role in building the Marvel universe) must have given Disney the confidence that not the movies, but the series can take center stage.

Important year

2022 will be an important year for this new strategy. Because after two successful seasons of The Mandalorian (2019-2020), animated series The Bad Batch (2021) and the creative highlight Visions (2021), in which seven leading Japanese anime studios gave their own view on the Star Wars universe, there are no fewer than five new Star Wars series on the roll for next year. In addition to the Boba Fett series, those are: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, a new season of The Bad Batch and probably a third season of The Mandalorian.

The first impression of The Book of Boba Fett, based on one episode, is writer and producer Jon Favreau once again going down the road that was successful for The Mandalorian: beautifully produced science fiction, a controlled story with relatively small suspense per episode, and above all with a lot of respect for, and full of references to, the oldest Star Wars films – but also to additions from later films, his own series and elements from the extended universe. The story is told with a certain calm, which was completely absent in the cinema films. It is to be expected that in each episode just enough is added to the Star Wars universe that fans will continue to crave for more.

Boba Fett became popular as a mystery. Does he keep that now that more is being filled in about him? Yes, says Dave Filoni, director, writer and executive producer of much of the Star Wars series, and once again involved in The Book of. The streaming era has taught us, told Filoni to The New York Times, that all branches of a story should be available for viewing at any time. The new generation canA New Hope (1977) watch, hear Obi-Wan talk about the Clone Wars, and they are just one click away from watching.”

There are indeed seven seasons of it The Clone Wars at Disney +.

Also read: Star Wars for dummies

Also read: Star Wars is reborn with The Mandalorian on Disney+

A version of this article also appeared in NRC Handelsblad on 5 January 2022

A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of January 5, 2022