How Rey’s Star Wars: New Jedi Order Film Might Adapt Luke’s Greatest Legends Tales

Posted On Mar 10, 2024 By admin With Comments Off

Rey (Daisy Ridley) will return to Star Wars in the Star Wars: New Jedi Order movie, and Disney has much to gain from mining its “Legends” collection (formerly the Star Wars Expanded Universe, or EU) for storytelling inspiration.

Nearly five years have passed since Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker proved a floundering ending to an already controversial sequel trilogy. With the new movie set 15 years after that story ends, Disney stands at an inflection point in its Star Wars storytelling. Based on the working title, the public assumes that the next Star Wars movie will show Rey rebuilding the Jedi Order, and by bridging the gap between the still-beloved Expanded Universe and current canon, Disney’s Lucasfilm can rebuild its goodwill with the disaffected segment of its audience.

Back in the Expanded Universe days, rebuilding the Jedi Order played a crucial role in Luke Skywalker’s ongoing storyline. With Luke out of the picture in Disney canon, the company can use Rey’s post-The Rise of Skywalker narrative to honor what a New Jedi Order already means to a large group of devoted Star Wars fans by integrating elements of Legends/Expanded Universe stories into the movies. That still gives Lucasfilm leeway to tell an original tale.

Such tactics have worked for Star Warsin the past, withAhsoka‘s Grand Admiral Thrawn, The Mandalorian‘s Dark Troopers, and even the New Republic itself originating in Legends. While Disney could certainly (and very well may) tell an original story, strong Star Wars storytelling integrating elements of Legends stories could have the power to bring some fans back to the box office.

Below are some of the stories, characters, and plotlines of the Legends collection that could most benefit the upcoming Rey-centric movie. Most hail from Kevin J. Anderson’s Jedi Academy trilogy, composed of the novels Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, and Champions of the Force. This article will reference the 19-book New Jedi Order series as well.

Be warned: a proper discussion of these Legends titles means spoiling certain plot points.

Luke’s EU Apprentices Can Challenge Old Jedi Structures

Mark Hamill in Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) — Image Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.

In the Expanded Universe, Luke’s New Jedi Order departed from the rigid, monastic institution seen in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Luke’s students had relationships and explored their own interpretations of the Force. Luke also accepted students of any age as, to him, the most important thing in rebuilding the Jedi Order was increasing the number of active Jedi. While characters from Luke’s Jedi Order already have analogues in the movies–Rey and Kylo Ren took on similar roles to Han and Leia’s children Jaina and Jacen Solo–some of the most interesting could still make their way into live-action.

A prime candidate for a movie reimagining is Kyp Durron, a young man Han Solo and Chewbacca freed from the spice mines of Kessel. Kyp would become one of the Expanded Universe’s most powerful, controversial Jedi and one of the first new Jedi Masters.

Durron had an aggressive approach to conflict and even turned to the Dark Side before finding his way back to the Light. As a character often portrayed in the EU as a rogue Jedi determined to do good on his own terms, Durron could make an interesting foil for Rey as she tries to determine a direction for the Jedi in the post-Sequel Trilogy era.

Familiar Locations and Factions Can Tie Star Wars Stories Together

Bespin, Cloud City, Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back — Image Credit: 20th Century-Fox.

The Jedi Academy trilogy saw Luke recruiting students from all over the galaxy, which naturally saw him revisiting locations made famous by the films. Luke’s students came from planets, including Bespin, Mon Calamari, Kessel, Corellia, and Dathmoir, all of which have appeared in previous Star Wars films and television shows.

Adapting such stories will help further flesh out the Star Wars universe by showcasing multiple perspectives among one species or people. A Mon Calamari Jedi like the EU’s Cilghal shows that Mon Cals aren’t only ship captains or admirals, just as a Dathomirian witch learning to use the Force–the EU’s Kirana Ti–without turning to the Dark Side stops departs from the traditional image of all Dathormirans as villains.

Luke stationed his academy at a Massassi Temple on Yavin IV, tying his post-trilogy story nicely into the site of the Rebels’ destruction of the first Death Star. Even as Rey’s New Jedi Order movie likely redefines what it means to be a Jedi, having her academy situated on a previously explored planet could deepen the already-rich lore of the established Star Wars universe. Although Yavin IV may not have the same significance for Rey as for Luke, she could easily revisit sequel trilogy planets like Ajan Kloss, Takodana, or even Ahch-To.

New Enemies Can Move Beyond Palpatine’s Schemes

Sith, Red lightsaber — Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Barring another Palpatine return, Star Wars: New Jedi Order will need to find a new enemy for Rey and her fledgling order to fight. The Star Wars Expanded Universe has no shortage of possibilities, beginning with the concept of Sith ghosts explored in Anderson’s Jedi Academy trilogy.

In those books, the spirit of the Dark Jedi Exar Kun, trapped for millennia on Yavin IV, influenced the young Kyp Durron, seducing him toward the Dark Side. Though the Sith supposedly went extinct after The Rise of Skywalker, the corrupting presence of their spirits could provide a perfect way to tell a Force-centric story without Skywalkers or Sheev Palpatine.

Another controversial yet hugely impactful Expanded Universe enemy was the Yuuzhan Vong, a species of extragalactic invaders that Jedi could not sense in the Force. They played the villains at the heart of the New Jedi Order novel series, which saw the destruction of many Star Wars planets and the deaths of some of its best-known characters.

The full New Jedi Order storyline is likely too long, brutal, and detailed to capture in a film or even a trilogy, but the idea of enemies disconnected from the Force has potential. If Rey does indeed rebuild the Jedi Order in her upcoming Star Wars movie, an enemy that defies common knowledge about the Force itself (that it binds, and connects to every living thing) could present a fascinating obstacle.

Furthermore, honoring Legends stories–and the fans that still love them–would set the new movie up for success.

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