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Credit: Inside the MagicThe very thought of seeing the words “Star Wars” and “reboot” in the same sentence would strike most fans with horror and disbelief, but when you look at what’s been happening in other corners of the entertainment industry, it’s suddenly a lot easier to believe that the most beloved franchise of all time could go under the “Hollywood knife” .
Here’s why we think Star Wars is just as defenseless as any other franchise…
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1. No Franchise Is Sacred
Not only was the iconic classic Ghostbusters (1984) rebooted in 2016, since then, many properties once thought to be sacred have been rebooted, with the most recent announcement being Harry Potter, which will soon be getting a brand-new television series on HBO Max. However, there are also rumors of a ninth film in the main Harry Potter film series being in development.
Should this turn out to be true, then Harry Potter will have two “live” timelines totally unrelated to one another. Either way, it seems no franchise is sacred. Even The Lord of the Rings was rebooted with Amazon Prime’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022). While Season 2 is underway, several new films are also in the works, which, unlike the television series, will be canon with the six original films from Peter Jackson.
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2. Other IPs Have More Than One Current Timeline
There are a number of franchises that have more than one current timeline. One example, although this one is slightly more complicated, is Spider-Man. While Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) is more of a Multiversal crossover event, it still sees the return of two previous “de-booted” versions of the titular webslinger in Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield, as well as the present version of the character, Tom Holland.
Another example is Batman, who’s currently enjoying a number of different iterations in cinema, from Matt Reeves’ stand-alone film series The Batman (2022), to this summer’s DC Universe film The Flash (2023), as well as other upcoming films Joker: Folie à Deux (2024) and The Brave and the Bold (TBA). All of these films are completely unrelated to one another, and are part of either ongoing or upcoming timelines.
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3. Ahsoka Could Hold the Key to a Star Wars Reboot
The upcoming Mando-Verse live-action series Ahsoka (2023), which will see Rosario Dawson reprise her role as the titular Jedi, alongside many characters from the animated series Star Wars: Rebels (2014), is rumored to meddle with time travel. The show is evidently a “sequel” to Rebels, which introduces the time-bending “World Between Worlds” storyline, while the trailer itself contains many clues that point towards such an event.
There’s even a theatrical Mando-Verse crossover in development with Dave Filoni at the helm, who recently told Empire that, like many other notable Star Wars films and television shows, the film will revolve around “a defining moment”. Could he be referring to time travel? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see, but the Ahsoka series could quite easily reintroduce this concept and consequently create an alternate timeline.
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4. A Star Wars Reboot Wouldn’t Need to De-Canonize Anything
Taking the whole multiple timelines scenario into account, but perhaps looking to the likes of Star Trek (2009) and the X-Men films to strengthen our case a bit more, a Star Wars reboot wouldn’t even need to de-canonize anything whatsoever.
Sure, the Star Trek reboot, which, like Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens (2015), was also directed by JJ Abrams, was, for all intents and purposes a “reboot” – it features an all-new cast and so on, but within the narrative it is also a literal rebooting of the universe, with time travel serving as the plot device. The same can be said about the X-Men films, with X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) doing pretty much the same thing.
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5. Rebooting the Original Trilogy Could Be Fun
Rebooting the original three films in the series, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi (1983), whether in the form of three new films or a television series, is bound to split the fanbase down the middle like a lightsaber through butter. But on the other hand, it could be a ton of fun.
A reboot would, of course, require an entirely new cast would, and while seeing the likes of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia Organa played by new actors wouldn’t go down well with most fans, if Disney and Lucasfilm made it clear from the get-go that the reboot is simply an alternate timeline and isn’t replacing primary canon by having the events play out differently than before, then it could be a bit more palatable for fans.
And who knows — fans might chew up such a reboot that involves an alternate timeline, especially seeing as most are always complaining about how most pre-Lucasfilm-acquisition material, which is dubbed “Star Wars Legends“, is no longer canon. A reboot could even help bring some of those beloved storylines to life.
Will this ever happen? Well, who knows, but these days, it’s fair to say that no film franchise is immune to being rebooted (unless we’re talking about the seemingly untouchable Back to the Future, but even then, never say never).
As per Disney and Lucasfilm, here’s the official trailer for Ahsoka:
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Ahsoka stars Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka Tano), Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Sabine Wren), Eman Esfandi (Ezra Bridger), Lars Mikkelsen (Grand Admiral Thrawn), Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Hera Syndulla), Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma), Ivanna Sakhno (Shin Hati), Diana Lee Inosanto (Morgan Elsbeth), and Ray Stevenson (Baylan).
Ahsoka will premiere on Disney+ in August.
Would you like to see a reboot of the Original Trilogy? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!