Hello, Star Wars fans! I’ve been getting pretty excited about future prospects for Star Wars content, in particular exploring the “Underworld” of the Star Wars universe. This is nothing new, and stretches way back probably over a decade ago. The question I’ll consider is whether Lucasfilm is building an underworld cinematic universe within the even bigger cinematic universe of Star Wars. Let’s break it down. SPOILERS for Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Probably over a decade ago, George Lucas began exploring the underworld of the Star Wars galaxy by developing TV and video games. There was a live action TV show in development, with the working title of Star Wars: Underworld, and at least 50 hours of written episodes were put on hold until the technology was available to make it affordable for television. To quote the maker,
“It sits on the shelf. We have 50 hours. We are trying to figure out a different way of making movies. We are looking for a different technology that we can use, that will make it economically feasible to shoot the show.” –George Lucas 2011
If they already had 50 hours written by 2011, then I would expect the initial concept was conceived many years before that. George Lucas described these stories as based on film noir movies from the 1940s. These stories would take place in between Episode III and Episode IV. These stories were part of the “treasure trove” of content that that was part of the Disney deal.
Probably the most concrete information about this show came from Rick McCallum, when he let this slip:
“…It’s this whole underworld. So….that’s the working title. It’s underneath what’s going on. It’s the criminals, […] and the gangs…” Rick McCallum 2012
There was a good indication that Lawrence Kasdan began writing Solo way back before 2012 for Lucas, and as we know this movie explores a criminal underworld. Whether or not Lucasfilm of 10 years ago thought of this as a “cinematic universe” , they certainly were building one with the TV show, Solo film, and the 1313 video game seemed to explore a world of criminals, scoundrels, bounty hunters, and all the activity going on behind the scenes in the criminal underworld of the Star Wars galaxy.
Going way back to December 2015, before the release of The Force Awakens, Kathy Kennedy shared her love for the Underworld scripts, and stated that Lucasfilm is “pouring over” this content, and considering developing some of these ideas further.
“So our attitude is, we don’t want to throw any of that stuff away. It’s gold. And it’s something we’re spending a lot of time looking at, pouring through, discussing, and we may very well develop those things further. We definitely want to.” –Kathy Kennedy, Dec. 2015
Although the news has recently resurfaced, it has been known for almost two years that the cast of Solo signed on to a multi-picture deal, and with the Boba Fett movie rumors, practically a confirmation of a Lando movie (well confirmation it’s a “possibility”), it certainly sounds like they are planning a series of connected films, that take place in the period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, the potential to interface the content explored in those original TV show scripts, and thus the potential to build connective tissue between the films and those old TV scripts is huge.
However, it would seem, that Lucasfilm has a different strategy for world-building, because these TV shows were never even shared with the Kasdans. A bit surprising to me is the fact that the Kasdan’s didn’t even get to read those scripts. My guess is they want to give the Kasdans creative freedom to explore what they want, and not be tied down to any set of scripts.
Not really at all ’cause my dad and I never got to read those scripts, but I’ve ALWAYS been super curious about that show and thought of it often while we were writing.
— Jon Kasdan (@JonKasdan) May 30, 2018
So if the Kasdans didn’t get to read the scripts, then Lucasfilm didn’t want their creative process to fit into any other broader planned narrative, at least initially. Discussions with the story group could have lead to minor characters (e.g. Aurra Sing) being inserted throughout. As we know, they do “seed and thread” story lines. Despite not reading the stories, he is clearly aware of them and is interested in them. He also hinted at “underworld stories” in the context of Solo
Look, “fell short of expectations” isn’t what anyone hopes to hear in the bedroom or at the box office but, mostly, I’m just thrilled by the reaction to #Solo. And if ya want more #underworld stories, keep askin’ Disney and Lucasfilm for ’em! Believe it or not, they listen.
— Jon Kasdan (@JonKasdan) May 30, 2018
What is cool about this tweet, is that it sounds like Jon Kasdan thinks of Solo as part of a set of stories, that–by name at least–share a common origin with those stories originally created by Lucas. You could call these stories the Underworld Cinematic Universe (UCU). Han Solo might be much bigger than the UCU in terms of his significance to the fans, but in a way, as the first film of the criminal underworld, Solo is testing the waters. I have a feeling they will make sequels regardless of what happens in the box office with Solo. The question is how will the they these films together?
I think a key part of the UCU centers around the Crimson Dawn, the criminal gang responsible for the main heist in Solo. Maul is known to have previously combined all the crime syndicates in The Clone Wars, and it sounds like he’s back, and he’s the head boss behind Crimson Dawn. The movie hints at a backstory to the criminal synicate, and how they came in and destroyed the lives and families of the members of the Cloud Riders. I personally think the UCU can be strengthened by a common bad guy throughout, and Crimson Dawn just might be it. This provides a common thread to all these stories, and could be woven into Boba Fett and Lando, and maybe even a future Kenobi film. Think about it, we don’t expect Maul and Kenobi to meet again until the events of Rebels, however, their stories could be connected in a cool way without them actually meeting if Crimson Dawn sent a bounty hunter out to find Kenobi. I like to think they have big plans for Crimson Dawn in this era for future film and TV content, and Solo will be one day regarded as a great initial vignette into the Star Wars underworld cinematic universe.
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