While many would say that Vader, Yoda, Princess Leia and Han Solo ARE Star Wars, many others will say that Star Wars is so vast that we could accept a host of new faces as Star Wars in future movies… in fact, we’d say with The Force Awakens and Rogue One both doing so well with predominently new characters that this is a little obvious.
Or is that just us?
Anyway, Gary Whitta, writer of Rogue One, speculating on the future of Star Wars, believes that soon we will see movies with all new and fresh faces but still within the same universe: “One of the thing things we really want to do at Lucasfilm is create a universe and not keep relying on old legacy characters,” he said.
Talking about Rogue One, which he wrote, Whitta points out that while many of the old faces are there, there’s much more going on: “Yes you see Leia, yes you see the Death Star and Vader, because those are elements of that story and they belong there, you can’t tell that story without those characters. But for the most part, 90 percent of that story is completely new characters. Completely new planets and places you’ve never seen before.”
Indeed, Rogue One is the first Star Wars movie to not rely on the Force so much as the other seven movies, as it was primarily based on ‘ordinary’ characters in a universe full of space wizards and villains: “It’s a Star Wars movie with no Jedi! You don’t see a light saber once until Vader pops it out at the end,’ noting that the box office hit didn’t possess the same themes of ‘spirituality or mysticism’ as its predecessors.
“It’s very different DNA to the Star Wars films that have come before it,’ he said, noting that not all elements of the initial culture-shifting film franchise were headed the way of both Death Stars.
“The next spin-off is ‘Han Solo,’ that’s another familiar character, but I think increasingly you’re going to see less of the originals,” he said.
Getting back to our two points above, the writer agrees that what we are seeing is a passing the torch scenario: “It makes sense to use familiar characters to transition into a bolder vision, but eventually the filmmakers will have to shift the paradigm in order to keep audiences excited.”
We have no issue with new characters or stories in the Star Wars universe so long as they still primarily feel like Star Wars – with Rey, Finn and Poe now the centre of the Star Wars universe, we think all fans are in the same boat as us and we reckon this will mean that Star Wars will have a looooooooong future with new and old faces.
Source: Daily Mail
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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