Star Wars Wants To Leave The Skywalker Saga Behind... So Why Isn't It?

Lucasfilm is aware that Star Wars needs to move beyond the Skywalker Saga after Episode IX, so why hasn't that been put into practice yet?

Star Wars Wants To Leave The Skywalker Saga Behind… So Why Isn't It?

Lucasfilm is aware that Star Wars needs to move beyond the Skywalker Saga, and yet the upcoming movies and TV shows are not putting that into practice. When Disney bought Lucasfilm, continuing the story of Luke Skywalker while introducing new characters was the most obvious choice as to where the studio could take the saga 10 years after Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith concluded the prequel trilogy. However, as the sequel trilogy progressed, the never-changing focus of the franchise on not only Luke Skywalker but on the Skywalker name as a whole began to be questioned.

While George Lucas himself agrees that Star Wars is closer to a soap opera about family than to a sci-fi epic, the saga introduced audiences to a world so large and full of possibilities that it is harder not to ponder what else Star Wars could be. After the original trilogy told a straightforward, self-contained story about an evil Empire being opposed by a rebel alliance, the Star Wars prequel trilogy expanded both the timeline and the scope of the saga. From then on, books, games, and animated series like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels added a great deal of worldbuilding to the franchise, and even the most important characters like Luke began to seem small in the grand scheme of things.

However, Star Wars never really shifted the focus away from the Skywalker Saga. More than Luke’s original trilogy arc and Anakin’s prequel trilogy arc, the Skywalker Saga encapsulates everything that is somehow directly connected to the nine Star Wars movie episodes. For example, while Rebels does not feature any Skywalker as the main character, it belongs in the Skywalker Saga because it leads straight to the events of the rebellion in which Luke would take part. The sequel trilogy, which introduced new characters like Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren, is also part of the Skywalker Saga because it continues the legacies of Luke, Leia, Han, and even the Emperor. After decades of focus on the Skywalker Saga, crafting new, successful storylines in Star Wars that pander to both long-time viewers and new audiences is a risky challenge, which could explain why Lucasfilm has been resistant to the idea as exemplified by the Han Solo recast backlash.

Disney Knows Star Wars Has To Move Beyond The Skywalker Saga

It is not just audiences who have perceived that Star Wars needs to move beyond the Skywalker Saga in order to achieve its full potential. As an explanation for why new theatrical Star Wars films are taking longer now to be developed, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy revealed that the company realizes Star Wars needs to move away from the Skywalker legacy but that such a change demands a lot of time. Disney must have come to that conclusion, especially after both Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker “failed” to perform at the box office to the same extent as its predecessor. The astonishing success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the promise of a reignited franchise that could rival the MCU as a worldwide modern box office giant, and while both Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi and J.J. Abrams’ Rise of Skywalker did more than a billion each, neither of them had the same impact as The Force Awakens.

Star Wars’ Upcoming Shows Are Mostly Still Connected To The Skywalker Saga

Disney’+ next Star Wars show, Obi-Wan Kenobi, is not only set during the Skywalker Saga but also a crucial part of it. The Obi-Wan series will work as a link between the story of the prequels and the original trilogy, and it begins in the most familiar Star Wars place possible: Tatooine. The Mandalorian season 3, which will arrive on Disney+ in either late 2022 or early 2023, is also directly linked to the Skywalker Saga, especially after the Mandalorian and Grogu met Luke, and it works as a tie in between Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.

Andor is a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which in turn is a prequel to the story of Luke Skywalker’s most important feat—destroying the first Death Star. Ahsoka‘s titular character is a part of the Skywalker legacy herself as Anakin’s padawan, and her story now even connects with Luke after they met in The Book of Boba Fett. Likewise, Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2 continues the legacy of Clone Wars, and even the High Republic show The Acolyte can be linked to the Skywalker Saga as it works as a prequel to the events of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

Why Star Wars Is Struggling To Move Beyond The Skywalker Saga

The term Skywalker Saga is almost redundant as Star Wars has always been about the Skywalkers. Luke Skywalker, which funnily enough was originally named Luke Starkiller, started his hero’s journey in A New Hope to become one of pop culture’s most recognizable characters, followed by the shocking reveals of both Darth Vader and Leia also being part of the family. At this point, even though Star Wars has a universe large enough to welcome the most different stories set in whatever time period, it is hard to abandon the characters, storylines, and locations like the desert of Tatooine that have been part of the franchise for so long. That shift is challenging also from a commercial standpoint, as nostalgia, cameos, and callbacks to familiar places and characters are often guaranteed success not only in Star Wars but in other franchises like the MCU and the DCEU. Trying to start something from scratch is always more difficult than continuing what is already in the works, and that explains why Star Wars struggles to move beyond the Skywalker Saga.

Will Star Wars’ Upcoming Movies Finally Leave The Skywalker Saga Behind?

So far, the only Star Wars movie with a release date attached is Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron. Although the film is expected to be set in a new time period, the name naturally draws a connection to Luke Skywalker’s history as Rogue Squadron was the group of X-Wing pilots created and led by Luke himself. Another Star Wars movie currently in development, the Kevin Feige-produced one, is confirmed not to be a sequel to any preexisting story, which could make it the first Star Wars film to actually steer away from the Skywalker Saga. Taika Waititi’s Star Wars film is still a mystery in terms of what it will be about, but having the Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder director helming a completely original Star Wars story would be exciting. The future of Star Wars on the big screen is still being kept in secret, and that could be a hint that the franchise is taking its time to finally bring something truly new.