With Star Wars’ cinematic return in “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens” this Christmas, fans are already looking ahead to the vast possibilities of Disney’s announced Star Wars Anthology films, which are poised to tap the rich mythos of the Star Wars universe.
At April’s Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, California, the first footage from the first film in the Anthology series, “Star Wars: Rogue One” was revealed. The brief teaser featured a voiceover from Obi-Wan Kenobi and followed a lone Imperial TIE Fighter as it flew through a jungle canyon of an alien world, only to climb into a sky dominated by the distant bulk of the first Death Star in orbit.
Bryan Young, editor-in-chief of fan site Big Shiny Robot, as well as a contributor to StarWars.com and Star Wars Insider magazine, was there for the screening.
“It was overwhelming,” Young said. “As a fan of the prequels, I love the idea that we’re getting a war-based prequel to the construction of the first Death Star.”
“Rogue One” will take place just before the events of “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,” and will feature not only the construction of the first Death Star but also the daring rebel mission to capture the blueprints of the battle station. This first film in the Star Wars Anthology series, directed by Gareth Edwards and starring Felicity Jones, is set to be released on Dec. 16, 2016.
A second Anthology film is in the works, and speculation is already running wild about its story. The production’s original director, Josh Trank, left the project earlier this year according to StarWars.com, only fueling speculation about the film.
Comic book writer and Star Wars fan Ben Hodson, who blogs at benlanehodson.com, said it may be too early to speculate with any accuracy what the second Anthology film will offer.
“It’s hard to get a sense of what they are going for,” Hodson said. “I’m not sure if (Josh Trank) was the right director or not (Disney certainly decided he wasn’t), but it does put the project in the status of ‘troubled’ from the get-go.”
Still, Hodson said these films will scratch an itch for fans.
“The Star Wars Anthology films were inevitable,” Hodson said. “With a Star Wars fan base more rabid than ever before, clambering for new content, along with the huge amount of money Disney paid for Lucasfilm rights, additional stories were a certainty.”
Together with the episodic Star Wars films, the new Anthology series means Disney and Lucasfilm will be producing a new Star Wars film every year for the foreseeable future. This kind of long-term cinematic scheduling is nothing new to Disney, which also owns Marvel Studios and its recent, interconnected throng of Marvel superhero films.
“Think about Marvel,” Young said. “They’re putting out two movies a year and people are still clamoring for more. Star Wars is arguably a bigger draw. These Anthology films are designed to give us the sort of Star Wars films we’ve never seen before.”
This is exciting news for fans of the Star Wars universe and opens up possibilities for some new and fun adventures. Fans of Star Wars novels, video games, tabletop games, and other media have long enjoyed the Star Wars universe beyond the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Princess Leia and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The question is, what kinds of adventures will Disney and Lucasfilm bring to the big screen? Fans are already speculating. Hodson has his own ideas about where the new films should take fans.
“I still think ‘The Ewok Adventure’ and ‘Caravan of Courage’ are two of the better Star Wars spin-offs ever made,” said Hodson, referring to two Star Wars TV movies from the 1980s. “I’d like to see more intimate stories like those, a group of interesting characters in a new setting with a story problem to solve and some emotional weight. I feel like Jedis are way overdone and would love to see more stories dealing with other non-Jedi characters.
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