It has already been confirmed that the new Star Wars movies will be original screenplays rather than be based on any Expanded Universe material. Which seems like a bit of a shame really, when they have literally thousands to options to choose from. The Star Wars Expanded Universe is so vast and detailed that it gives the Marvel Universe a run for its money. If you want to get a taste of it, head over the Wookiepedia, the Star Wars wiki, which contains over 100,000 articles, some of which are so long that they must have taken years to write, and start building your knowledge of this extraordinary creation that started with George Lucas’s masterpiece in 1977. Hopefully JJ Abrams is on the site obsessively to expand the knowledge of the universe that he will control for at least one film.
And with so much to choose from, let’s look at some of the best Expanded universe stories that would make awesome movies.
5. Legacy
Kind of the opposite of The Old Republic, which takes place in the early days of the galaxy, Legacy of the Force goes deep into the future of the galaxy. The Empire may be destroyed and the Yuuzhan Vong defeated, but peace is still only a dream, especially when Sith Lord Darth Krayt says, in his own words, that he has “broken the spine of the galaxy”.
Written by Star Wars veteran John Ostrander, and not to be confused with the Legacy of the Force series of novels, the series explores how everything we’ve seen before would shape Galactic History. Let’s see the consequences of the actions in the previous films.
4. The New Jedi Order
When it comes to the New Jedi Order, the entire series of nineteen incredibly long novels can be summed up as follows: they killed off Chewbacca. Yup, everyone’s favorite Wookie was killed by a collision of two planets caused by the invading Yuuzhan Vong, technology hating aliens from a distant galaxy who plan to rule supreme. Originally Luke was going to die, but George Lucas quickly put a stop to that. He must hate Chewbacca, that would explain why he never got a medal at the end of A New Hope.
Much darker and more mature than Star Wars has ever dared to go before (the death toll at the end of the series is 365 trillion), adapting the New Jedi Order would certainly fit with Hollywood’s current obsession with being dark and gritty. Although fans will not take kindly to seeing the Luddite aliens kill off their favorite Wookie on the big screen.
3. The Thrawn Saga
The death of the emperor by no means meant the death of the Empire, as Timothy Zahn explores in The Thrawn Saga. Blue skinned Chiss Grand Admiral Thrawn, the leader who tries to restore the Empire to its former glory, is one the most well known and memorable character introduced in the Expanded Universe, an art loving, cunning and ruthless leader who interestingly never has a single story seen from his point of view. The key to success of any story is a great villain, and Thrawn gives Palplatine a run for his money.
2. The Old Republic
Okay so we know it’s going to be a Sequel Trilogy, but there is no word on when the spinoff films will be set. How about going way back to the start and exploring the Great Sith War, the origins of the Jed’aii order and the origins of the Sith species on the planet Korriban. The Phantom Menace’s tagline was “Every saga has a beginning” so why not go back to the very, very beginning and seeing the early days of the galaxy that we all know and love?
1. Darth Plagueis
Another prequel entry, James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis is arguable one of the finest novels ever written. Employing an elegant and poetic prose, it tells the story of the master of Palpatine, and how he shaped his apprentice to go on to become Emperor of the Galaxy and the most powerful Sith Lord of all time. In the meantime Plagueis also enjoys experimenting with the Force in an effort to unlock the secret to immortality. Filed with recognizable characters and showing how the groundwork was set for the Republic to become the first Galactic Empire, it would be a welcome change to have a film where we root for the bad guy.
What expanded universe stories do you want to see in the new films?