Hello out there in Star Wars fandom. I’m back to discuss some of the latest Star Wars news. Namely, let’s take a look at the all the news we have on the future Star Wars animated show, post Rebels.
When will we hear?
We heard recently from Bob Iger that there are “a few Star Wars shows” (beware of autoplay audio from that link) under development. However, when will we get more specifics?
Pablo Hidalgo said back in September that we probably won’t hear something about the series until SWC, which will be in over year in 2019.
Pablo Hidalgo indicates in this video (@ around 41:00) that the next animated project may not be announced until SWC https://t.co/Ne1FBcErNX
— Rebel Transmission (@Rebels_TK421) September 24, 2017
There was a job posting about a month ago, possibly looking for a director for this show. If that’s true, then it would be a while till we’ll hear anything. That said, we don’t know which of the shows this will be for.
While waiting over a year for any news is a bit far out, we may have gotten a little detail that, if true, could be significant.
Star Wars: Resistance
There was a big leak last week that, if true, The tweet comes from Jordan Maison, is an official Star Wars artist for Topps, but perhaps more important is what it says:
LFL just filed a trademark for “Star Wars Resistance” & before you start claiming “Mobile Game” it’s registered for books, games, toy, and all the same stuff their media (shows/movies) get….Could this be thesequel timeline based series that’s been rumored? #StarWars
— Jordan Maison (@JordanMaison) February 21, 2018
This seems pretty solid evidence. It could certainly be something smaller than a TV show, but a TV show seems the most likely scenario. This news certainly narrows the possibilities of what we will see in future Star Wars animation. This makes tons of sense, as it would be the natural continuation of Rebels.
First, the show would be a good opportunity to clear up the distinction between the Rebels and the Resistance. They kind of muddied the waters a bit in the movies when they seemed to use the terms interchangeably, but I think they are going in that direction of fusing them.
The early days of the Resistance came about 28 ABY, putting it 6 years before The Force Awakens. That’s just about enough time for a 6 season show leading up the the sequel trilogy. It was founded by Leia, so this show would give them a chance to explore Leia even further. Maybe they’ll explore her Force-powers, or just focus on her role as general, but I suspect we’ll get some Force moments–it’s Star Wars after all.
One problem with this, is it’s after Luke went missing, according to the best evidence. This would mean that we won’t see Luke. They could place the show earlier, or possibly have flash-backs. I think it would be more satisfying to see something with Luke and young Ben Solo, and explore Ben’s turn to the dark side. It would be great if they could also explore the early years of Luke exploring the galaxy with Lor San Tekka. There’s so much potential for backstory there. It could be a sort of Indiana Jones in space.
So while I think the exact birth of the Resistance is a potential, going a little earlier in the timeline might be better. There could be some time-jumps after the first couple of seasons. People are clamoring for more content in between RotJ and TFA, so this show is a perfect opportunity. You don’t want to replace the big three in live-action during the same time-period we’ve seen them onscreen. I know the actors arw replaced for Solo, but that’s set 10-12 years earlier, so it makes sense they would look a little different. New actors in a live action show during the same time we’ve seen would be jarring. Therefore, animation is the best way to explore this time period.
Distribution
It would seem that the new show is very likely to be new content for the future Disney streaming service. With all the new content that is reported to be coming for this service, everything from Muppets to Marvel will be on there. If so, I would expect that this means a little bit more freedom with the content. The rebels fans are a bit more grown up now, and they may grow up the show at the same time. So I’m hoping for a show with more darker themes.
Could be great, and it’s hard to do wrong with this one. Start it a little earlier, and people could also get the Luke Skywalker after RotJ that they have wanted. The Jedi Academy, other bad guys like Thrawn coming back, and they could bring back a little of the EU. The good parts at least. We’ll keep an eye on this and see how it plays out!
Brought to you by @davestrrr. Follow me on twitter and stay tuned to SpoiledBlueMilk.com for the best of Star Wars!