Even though the franchise possesses storytelling opportunities that are literally unlimited, the Disney era of Star Wars has been far too reliant on the past. The Force Awakens was basically a modern day retelling of A New Hope, and the rest of the Sequel Trilogy was indebted towards nostalgia to the detriment of the movies themselves, with The Rise of Skywalker the worst offender.
Meanwhile, the short-lived Anthology experiment could have focused on characters and worlds that audiences have never seen before, but instead, Rogue One and Solo both played it safe and based themselves on recognizable iconography or familiar faces. And while The Mandalorian has admittedly told a brand new story, the expanded universe is slowly seeping into the series as it begins to tie itself to the events of both the feature films and animated shows.
The latest rumor to be gathering some serious momentum is the idea of Sebastian Stan being cast as a younger Luke Skywalker, and there are a lot of fans who appear to be firmly on board with it. In fact, insider Daniel Richtman claims that the studio are now seriously considering making it a reality based on the early response, and may even give him his own TV series.
“If Sebastian Stan will get the young Luke role, [it] could also lead [to] a Young Luke show on Disney+.”
While Stan would be a good choice for the part, returning to the well once more is surely the last thing that Star Wars needs right now. Luke’s arc came to a natural end during the most recent movies, and we’ve already spent an entire trilogy with the younger version of the legendary Jedi anyway, so the whole idea seems rather pointless in the grand scheme of things. Besides, based on the backlash towards Episodes VII and IX, not to mention the overwhelmingly positive response to The Mandalorian, now is the time for Star Wars to leave the past behind and forge an exciting new future.
