Star Wars has a proud history of retroactive continuity since its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, was released back in 1980. Also known as a retcon, “retroactive continuity” means that a writer will include a piece of information that casts a new light on previous events in the series. A retcon isn’t necessarily good or bad, inherently; some retcons can be done well, while others can be done pretty poorly.
Take Halloween, for instance. The original John Carpenter film featured Michael Myers (Nick Castle) as a boogeyman in the night; he kills because that’s his nature. Halloween II instead revealed that Michael was actively after his long-lost sister, who was none other than Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Subsequent films would waver back and forth on that; some retconned that retcon and had the two be unrelated, while others acknowledged the familial connection. Some fans genuinely enjoy the twist, while others abhor it.
Perhaps that’s why Star Wars is so fractious. Each new piece of media adds its own spin on the material, and each writer has their own tastes and agendas.
1. Darth Vader’s identity
It’s one of the most well-known and beloved twists of all time. “No, I am your father’.” Words that will go down in frequently misremembered history. But it wasn’t always planned to be that way: no, when audiences are told in A New Hope that Darth Vader killed Luke Skywalker’s father, Anakin, that was the truth. Lucas didn’t intend for Darth Vader to actually be Luke’s father.
In The Empire Strikes Back, Obi-Wan justifies this lie by saying it was “true from a certain point-of-view,” a mindset that Star Wars clearly went on to embrace. Lucas reportedly came up with the twist while writing The Empire Strikes Back, and he kept it under tight wraps, with the script’s dialogue being “No, Obi-Wan killed your father.”
2. Ahsoka’s existence
Sure, she’s popular enough to get her own, self-titled Disney Plus series now, but her initial introduction was contentious. Before Ahsoka Tano was played by Rosario Dawson, the character originated in 2008’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars, where she was voiced by Ashley Eckstein. One problem fans had? Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) never mentions having had a Padawan in Revenge of the Sith. Even as the character grew in popularity, fans kept expecting her to be killed off, fueling Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side. Well, she survived the Clone Wars — which led fans to expect Darth Vader to kill her in Star Wars: Rebels.
As it turns out, she survived that, too. Ahsoka survived past the events of the Original Trilogy, and even got to interact with Luke (“played” by an unnervingly CGI Mark Hamill). The character’s creation was actually George Lucas’s idea. Dave Filoni reportedly told Lucas, “Well, you know, Anakin doesn’t have a Padawan,” to which Lucas replied, “Anakin Skywalker has a Padawan.”
3. Luke’s sister
It’s no secret Lucas originally had a wildly different plan for the Sequel Trilogy. He’s gone on record claiming he wanted as many as twelve films in the Star Wars saga, though more commonly he’ll settle on having always wanted around nine films in interviews. These nine films would have been very different had it not been for the Disney buyout.
In one very, very early draft, Luke’s sister would have been finally found in the Sequel Trilogy. Leia was not to be Luke’s sister at all — which explains why Luke and Leia share a full-on kiss in The Empire Strikes Back. Some fans have noted that the twist surrounding Leia’s true parentage is tacked-on to Return of the Jedi, and there’s a reason for that: it was tacked-on to Return of the Jedi.
4. Luke isn’t the last Jedi
“When gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be.” Yoda says these words to Luke in Return of the Jedi. He forgot to mention a few names, though, like Ahsoka Tano, Ezra Bridger, Grogu… Well, can you really blame any writer for introducing more Jedi? It’s Star Wars. The Force is what makes the universe special.
But, as time goes on, more and more Jedi have been revealed to survive the Original Trilogy, and that makes Luke slightly less special. While he was certainly the only Jedi remotely capable of stopping Darth Vader and the Emperor, there are only so many times Yoda can lie before we admit he has a compulsive issue.
5. Luke isn’t the last Jedi (again)
If there’s one thing Filoni’s been criticized for, it’s his inability to kill off his original characters. Ahsoka’s been in mortal peril — and even flat-out dead — many times, but she keeps coming back. Filoni’s openly favored her for a long time, which isn’t an issue if he keeps putting out interesting stories involving the character. But Ahsoka has introduced a new (potential) retcon: there are more Jedi than Luke working to rebuild the Order.
Sabine Wren and Ezra Bridger aren’t confirmed to survive past the Sequel Trilogy — when Luke is once again supposed to be the last Jedi — but it’s unlikely that the number of Force users being introduced in Ahsoka will all be dead by the time Rey is supposed to be starting her own Order.
6. Somehow, Palpatine returned
Anakin Skywalker was the Chosen One, destined to bring down the Sith. With his final assault on Darth Sidious and his return to the Light Side, Anakin fulfilled his destiny. But all of that was undone with the release of The Rise of Skywalker. Not only was Darth Sidious alive after exploding, he was stronger than ever.
This retcon is absolutely one of the most disliked in the franchise. With the death of Snoke in The Last Jedi, and Kylo Ren already having been beaten by Rey twice, The Rise of Skywalker needed a climactic boss. But Palpatine’s return actively undermined major storytelling beats from earlier movies. And if Anakin isn’t the Chosen One, perhaps the Skywalkers were more trouble than the Galaxy got out of them.
7. Rey’s parents
This one could technically take up a few slots, because Rey’s parentage was changed a few times. With The Force Awakens setting up Rey as a long-lost child, fans began to speculate as to her identity: some favored her being a Skywalker, others a Kenobi, and others a Palpatine. The Last Jedi chose to iterate that the focus on her parentage was irrelevant despite the mystery surrounding it in the previous film. Then The Rise of Skywalker said that Rey actually was a Palpatine all along via the Dark Lord of the Sith’s son.
The Sequel Trilogy was unfortunately not planned from the very beginning, leading to major shifts in its creative vision over time. Although the series attempted some consistency, each retcon came across as a haphazard course-correction. With Rey reportedly getting her own movie, we may yet see another retcon about her parents.
8. Han’s Solo
Solo aimed to flesh out Han Solo’s mysterious past. Although the character’s history had been explored in novels before, those were rendered non-canon by the Disney buyout, and Solo was to be the first time viewers got a look at Han’s “canon” past. The movie certainly did its job: it explained Han’s meeting with Chewbacca, his meeting with Lando, and even the infamous Kessel Run.
But the movie also retconned a major part of Han’s backstory: namely, his name. See, Han starts the movie as just “Han.” When he’s escaping an imperial tail, he has to go through customs, at which point an imperial officer asks him his last name. Seeing as Han’s alone and has no last name, the officer gives him the last name “Solo.” It’s a retcon that’s pretty over-the-top in its execution — it’s the perfect example of an origin/prequel explaining too much about a character.
9. Kylo Ren’s shifting moral compass
Kylo Ren was played magnificently by Adam Driver. Conflicted and tortured, Driver’s performance was one of the best parts of the Sequel Trilogy. But the character of Kylo Ren certainly underwent several changes in allegiance and moral dubiousness. In The Force Awakens, Han Solo’s murder is unforgivable — not only did this new character kill a fan favorite, he killed his own father.
In The Last Jedi, Kylo takes on a more sympathetic edge. While he sticks to villainy by the end, many fans had gotten the impression that he had embraced a more gray point-of-view, which would have been an interesting plotline to follow. But The Rise of Skywalker portrayed Kylo as a redeemed and misunderstood man with a romantic attachment to Rey. There’s also his role in the destruction of Luke’s Jedi Temple. Originally, it was said that Kylo and several other students slaughtered everyone there, destroying the temple when they were finished. Subsequent comics reveal Kylo was innocent and that it was all Snoke’s machinations.
10. Padmé’s death
It’s a scene that has plagued Star Wars fans for decades. When Luke finally confirms to Leia that they’re twins, he questions if she remembers their mother. Leia responds that she remembers her faintly, and that she was a sad, beautiful woman. But Revenge of the Sith reveals that Padmé Amidala died in childbirth, and her children only got a glimpse of her.
While it can be said that Leia might remember her mom thanks to her abilities in the Force, the Obi-Wan TV series refutes this possibility, and a young Leia has to be told of her mother by Obi-Wan. Who knows? Maybe someday even this will be retconned.
