It’s been more than a decade since Disney bought Star Wars from George Lucas, and while they’ve done more with the franchise in the past 12 years than its creator did in 30, for a lot of fans this has been nothing but a long fever dream, one from which they’ve been unable to escape. Probably never will, now, because the Mouse House won’t let go of their prized franchise — one of the numerous in its possession — without a fight.
It certainly doesn’t feel like 12 years have passed, but it was on October 30, 2012, when the announcement came that Lucas had sold the entirety of the galaxy far, far away to Disney and its creative apparatus, to do with his magnum opus as they pleased. I remember clicking on the headline, both amazed and baffled at the sudden announcement. I remember feeling hopeful; it’d been a while since Lucas had done anything with the franchise, and Disney was turning into a popular kid within cinematic circles, mostly thanks to the remarkable success of the MCU, which they’d bought only a few years before. And I remember, quite clearly, how those hopes were dashed against the rocks by 2017.
It was announced that the company would proceed with a sequel trilogy, bringing back our favorite heroes after 30 years of absence with J.J. Abrams at the helm. If you’ve loved Star Wars as long as I have — and I definitely find myself in the younger generation of fans who were lucky enough to get introduced to the fictional world through a nerdy uncle or an excitable dad — the mere possibility of seeing Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Hann Solo, and the late Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa again was more hype-fuelingly thrilling than we could handle. Star Wars was coming back under the direction of a veteran filmmaker, an experienced studio, and a tried-and-tested cast. What could possibly go wrong?
Ah, to have been so young, so hopeful, so naive.
Star Wars did come back, with all the bells and whistles of the latest cinematic technology, no expenses spared. Even the first movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was extremely well received. A little derivative, a bit unoriginal, but nothing that fans would roll their eyes at, not yet anyway. Then came Star Wars: The Last Jedi, now the most divisive movie in cinema history, and all hell broke loose.
It became clear to everyone that Disney had no idea what it was doing with the franchise, with the sequel trilogy not even planned out in full. Kathleen Kennedy and co.’s brilliant idea was to just start the process and wing it from there. Sure, the company recouped its $4 billion investment in less than five years, and it was a little while ago that they announced the franchise to have tripled in worth since 2012. But all of this sounds like a petty consolation prize for fans whose love for Star Wars knows no practical bonds.
The fandom of the galaxy far, far away has had to preside over a current of new projects over the past 12 years, some of them decent (The Mandalorian, The Clone Wars season 7), some of them terrible (The Rise of Skywalker, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett), and a few making you question if Disney should be forced to stop its work on Star Wars altogether. (I’m looking at you, Acolyte.) And so, to many fans, this day is not a milestone to be celebrated. To a dramatic few, this has been “the longest funeral ever,” as they slowly bore witness to their favorite story getting monopolized, commercialized, and butchered.
Now whether you subscribe to that belief or not, it’s clear that Star Wars under Disney continues to be incredibly polarizing. This news terrified me not just because I’m a disgruntled fan, but because it’s been 12 years. I may have been as young as young Luke when Disney began this long and wearisome journey, but give it a few years and I’ll resemble my hero’s older sequel trilogy counterpart in more than just his nihilistic outlook. For better or for worse, though, the sequel trilogy is a thing now, and it may just serve as the gateway for newer generations to learn what Star Wars is all about.
Not all is grim in Disney land, however. Not as long as folks like Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau are around. The burgeoning MandoVerse is pushing ahead at full speed, with two announced movies on the horizon and a scattering of other television outings for good measure. In fact, it’s been theorized that a fan-favorite story from the olden days is being resurrected just for this occasion, and I personally can’t wait to see how it will pan out in live-action.
Is Star Wars dead? I don’t think so, at least not as long as we are still here.
