The Sci-Fi Franchise That Most Desperately Needs A Multiverse Still Doesn’t Have One

By Chris Snellgrove
| Revealed 5 seconds in the past

Across the web, there are numerous posts and movies that share the identical primary sentiment about Disney’s films and exhibits set in a galaxy far, far-off: “this isn’t my Star Wars.” The issue, after all, is that Star Wars is all issues to all followers, and what could fulfill one group may simply alienate others. Disney appears to don’t know the best way to handle this drawback, however the answer is kind of easy: we desperately want Star Wars to have its personal multiverse.

Now, a few of you simply groaned whereas studying that as a result of Disney already has a multiverse with Marvel, and outdoors of hits like Deadpool & Wolverine, they’ve largely squandered it. Nonetheless, the issue with the MCU multiverse is that’s nonetheless centered virtually solely on the first universe, and Variants are used for glorified cameos powered solely by nostalgia (look, children, Patrick Stewart is again as Professor X for like two seconds!). What I’m proposing for Star Wars is a form of anthology multiversal strategy through which future exhibits and movies can both share distinct universes or create their very own.

What would this imply, virtually talking? For starters, we may have a multiverse of film sequels that ignore most and even all the current Sequel Trilogy. Individuals who completely hated new characters like Rey and Kylo Ren may have new content material that ignores them altogether. That will additionally imply ignoring the long-lasting character deaths, so we may have future movies and exhibits that includes older Luke Skywalker and Han Solo (although Disney may want a Jabba-style horde of credit to convey Harrison Ford again to Star Wars but once more).

Conversely, the prevailing Star Wars sequel tales and characters may have their very own multiverse, one which doesn’t have the load of fan expectations dragging it down. That’s the fantastic thing about this multiversal strategy: no one can declare “that’s not my Star Wars” anymore as a result of there is no singular story that future creators should comply with. As an alternative, future creators may have the privilege of merely crafting a terrific story (Andor-style) reasonably than ruining makes an attempt at greatness by awkwardly becoming all the things into the pre-existing lore.

Talking of pre-existing lore, one of many biggest advantages of Disney introducing a multiverse to this franchise is that we may get variations of the beloved Star Wars EU. How enjoyable wouldn’t it be if we may get a Jedi Academy trilogy of films that adapts Kevin Anderson’s basic books as a substitute of showing that Kylo Ren both recruited or murdered all of Luke’s college students? For that matter, how cool wouldn’t it be if we may see Jacen Solo onscreen and comply with his descent into the Darkish Facet, one which was a lot deeper and extra satisfying than Kylo Ren’s uncle points and grandaddy worship?

There are some followers who would hate this concept as a result of they’re obsessive about “canon,” however right here’s a tough reality: canon obsessions make no sense. Why are we so obsessive about what “actually” occurred in a fictional universe, going as far as to freak out when the latest made-up factor disrupts one thing we thought we knew in regards to the outdated made-up issues? Fairly frankly, ending the infinite debates over canon could be a tremendous bonus to Disney embracing a multiversal Star Wars strategy.

Solely time will inform if Disney adopts the knowledge of this strategy. In spite of everything, it’s an open secret that the MCU will reboot quickly, crushed beneath the load of its personal oppressive canon. Nonetheless, what if there was no want for a reboot as a result of there was no singular canon however, as a substitute, an infinite multiverse of prospects? This can be the ultimate alternative to get good tales, convey again beloved characters, and shut up crybaby followers on the identical time, all of which may quantity to our final, finest hope to repair the dreadful fashionable state of the most well-liked sci-fi franchise.