The amount of new Star Wars films has left some somewhat overwhelmed. Nonetheless, most fans would agree that there are stories that deserve to be told. Not just because they would be cool – there are pieces of Star Wars lore surrounding some of its characters with blank spaces, leaving questions that are just begging to be answered – preferably on the big screen. So which ones might these be?
1. Luke’s Restoration of the Jedi
Right. The Last Jedi made us arrive to the island when Luke was already the reclusive hermit, disappointed with life, with his failed aspiration to rebuild the Jedi Order. Personally, I am glad the sequels picked up this direction rather than giving us the story of 40-year old Luke doing what we would expect him to do – something we can imagine without it actually being shown on-screen. It is enough that we are told he had spent his life trying to restore the Jedi, then Snoke and the problem with Kylo Ren happened, and everything turned to ashes.
However, the story of how Luke traveled across the Galaxy, searching for Force sensitives, still has the right to exist – that still happened. And there is the span of entire three decades between Episodes VI and VII to fill. We could see Luke stumbling upon strange aliens and people more or less suitable for entering the Jedi Order. We could see him sifting the Galaxy and Palpatine’s personal trophy-storages for any pitiful relics of the Jedi that might help him find a link to the past. We could see him struggling with the discovery of the old rules of the Order, such as celibate. It would be an opportunity to introduce cool new characters, his future Padawans (albeit with the knowledge that they are going to be mercilessly slaughtered in the end. But we have seen that before in the prequels, right?).
Last but not least, it would be the opportunity to show Luke Skywalker as the real Master Jedi – something that was hinted at in Return of the Jedi and that was seen in The Last Jedi; but here we could have more of it. As an interesting detail, it would be awesome to get the chance to glimpse the brief period during which Luke considered Leia to take as his apprentice – to see her trying the basics of the Jedi training and deciding that this is not, after all, what she wants to devote her life to, and that she prefers her role as a politician.
2. Fall of the Knights of Ren
This is sort of addendum to the previous. We can expect (I hope!) a clarification of what really really happened when Kylo Ren fell, and around it, in Episode IX. But I doubt there will be time for everything, and the Knights of Ren are an interesting entity by themselves.
How did Kylo Ren first meet Snoke? What was their encounter like? Maybe we could delve a bit more into the “psychology of the Dark Side” from young Ben’s perspective. Again: I sort of expect to see this explained in the sequel trilogy, because frankly, I believe we need it to understand Kylo Ren! But if it isn’t there – or if it isn’t there enough – then by all means, let’s have it as a separate story.
3. The Rise of the First Order and the Resistance
Right. Fortunately, the Resistance TV series should take care of this. But let’s keep it in mind, for completion’s sake. The span of 30 years is long and there is so much that can be told.
4. The Fate of Mandalore
We are getting deeper into the hardcore fan section. Obviously, Mandalorians have a huge fan-base and while The Clone Wars and later Rebels took great efforts to unfold the story of this popular warrior-culture, it still remains in the air how everything actually ended. Especially – what happened to Mandalore after Return of the Jedi. We know Sabine Wren was around, maybe the story could include her perspective for a bit – in addition to Bo-Katan Kryze, of course.
I am still hoping that in Episode IX, amidst the “allies from the Outer Rim” that Leia mentioned, Mandalorians are going to appear to help the Resistance against the First Order…
5. The Adventures of Young Padmé Amidala
This is going to be elaborated on in an upcoming novel, just as young Leia was the protagonist of Leia: Princess of Alderaan. However, while I have nothing against books, it would be even better if we could see Padmé’s first steps in the Galactic arena on-screen. Her first meetings with kind Mr. Palpatine could be entertaining, but the timeframe between Episodes I and II offer plenty of opportunities too, with her starting senatorial career. Perhaps the novel will take care of it, however, it feels that Leia and Padmé are too important heroines not to get their own prequel – if Han already got one.
6. Young Anakin and Obi-Wan/Young Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon
This is certainly something that has been neglected in the Star Wars storytelling. The latter pair is also getting an upcoming novel, but the former would be undoubtedly interesting, too. Interestingly, it covers about the same time period as the above case: the time between Episodes I and II is really quite long. We could observe the beginnings of Anakin’s training, his relationship with his master and the beginnings of his relationship with Palpatine, which might be very exciting. Speaking of which…
7. Young Palpatine (and Maul)
The old canon had sort of covered Palpatine’s first entanglements with the Sith Order in the novel Darth Plagueis by James Luceno. I am not sure I enjoyed it thoroughly, it was sort of clogged by the sheer amounts of material that had piled up in the canon, was oftentimes contradictory, and that the author had to somehow put together to have it make sense. But perhaps similar story could be told again, maybe from a different perspective, maybe just during a specific timeframe. Villains don’t get enough screentime and Palpatine is certainly a good villain, and Maul is super-popular (plus child/teenage Maul would be super cute). The only sad thing is Ian McDiarmid (and Ray Park) probably wouldn’t be able to play younger versions of themselves.
8. Old Obi-Wan, Old Boba Fett…
All of these have been repeatedly mentioned and considered as good material for stand-alone films. Personally, I don’t have a problem with them because they would add more depth to the characters (especially Boba Fett). On the other hand, do we really need these? Especially Obi-Wan: what is he going to do after Order 66? Whereas I am not opposed to a two-hour artsy film (preferably black-and-white) with several minutes long close-ups of Obi-Wan making tea, watching Lars’ farm from the distance, meditating and collecting water from the vaporators, I am not sure if the wide audience would appreciate it.
9. Pre-Rogue One Jyn Erso (et al.?)
The characters of Rogue One are quite popular, but sadly, there is no way they can ever get more screentime together, for obvious reasons. Jyn Erso could perhaps get some time with Saw Gerrera before they got separated; it sounds like a good setup for nice action-packed story.
10. The Crimson Dawn
This is a mandatory last one to include – simply because the Solo film sort of begs for it. Qi’ra and the mysterious boss of the Crimson Dawn are set up for a spinoff, and if they don’t get one (regardless whether in two, five or ten years and whether as main characters, main villains or just a cameo in somebody else’s story), I am going to be very surprised.
This list is far from exhaustive, but I tried to refrain from both too wishful, too random picks (like, say, the adventures of young Zam Wessel) or ideas too difficult to execute (like the adventures of young Chewbacca – really, imagine two hours of just roaring), or simply ideas too close to something that has been done before or elsewhere (like the adventures of early Darth Vader).
But these are here to just set the wheels of your imagination spinning. Maybe you can think of better stories that deserve to appear on the big screen. If it makes sense, make it known – maybe Lucasfilm will hear…
