A Review of Canon and how Lucasfilm is Setting Up the Future

[Nutso]

Understanding Lucasfilm’s Tapestry of Stories

Canon has existed for just over five years now and in that time, we’ve been given a wealth of Star Wars stories. Yet the stories aren’t random and in this article I examine how each story fits into the narrative being told.

In a controversial decision, in April 2014 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) relegated everything except the movies and The Clone Wars animated show to its own continuity called Legends. From then on, LFL would establish a new continuity everything would be apart of. There would no longer be such things as Canon ‘levels’. This meant every book, comic and game would contribute to the story as the movies do. A Story Group was established to maintain connectivity between the different stories as well as strategize when and how the stories would be told.

Five years later, there have been four movies, two TV shows and a wealth of other material. While all of this material covers a broad range of subjects and eras, there’s a strong sense of purpose and direction to it. Earlier material sets up later material, even if the payoff is measured in years. While material released over the course of a year can vary considerably in era and subject matter, overall, stories cluster around certain themes, subjects and eras. It is possible to analyze what has and hasn’t been covered and seek to understand the reasons the narrative is unfolding the way it is. From there, we can perhaps see where the story is going.

In the first five years there has been a heavy emphasis on what can be described as world building for key characters, groups and events (‘phase one’ if you will). The elements at work driving the overall story have been hinted at, but by and large stories have been focused on the periphery of events. Stories about the characters that go on to be the principal movers and shakers have focused on their lives before they shaped galactic events (with a few exceptions). Alternatively, the stories have told the struggles of important characters who nevertheless were merely tools for those who really shaped the narrative.

Thus, Lucasfilm has been busy laying foundations while the Sequel Trilogy is completed. As we’ve said in the past and was recently confirmed, LFL has long had an outline for how the ST would end. It stands to reason, they also have a fairly decent idea of the direction they’re taking afterward. Therefore, analyzing not only what’s been seeded directly in the books, but the recurring themes and the stories that have and haven’t been told could tell us much about what’s coming in The Rise of Skywalker and beyond.