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Credit: LucasfilmStar Wars has once again ventured into the period of time between the end of the prequel trilogy era and the beginning of George Lucas’s original trilogy. In doing so, the franchise again rewrites its most tragic event–Emperor Palpatine’s execution of Order 66–and confirms that its potential new Jedi Order was ultimately quashed.
The Star Wars Story Never Ends
In Lucas’s Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith (2005), the Chancellor turned Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) uttered three words that transformed the galaxy forever: “Execute Order 66.” The order, given to the swaths of clone troopers during the Clone War era, saw the future stormtroopers turn on their Jedi generals, leaving the galaxy without its leaders of the light.
Of course, as the original trilogy already confirmed over two decades previously, some of those Jedi survived, notably Jedi Master Yoda, who Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) encounters on Dagobah in Star Wars: Episode V–The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
Over the years, with the addition of new media to the ever-expanding franchise, more survivors of Order 66 have come to the surface. Anakin Skywalker’s (Matt Lanter in animation; Hayden Christensen in live-action) former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein in animation; Rosario Dawson in live-action) survived, going on to become Fulcrum during the rise of the Rebellion, as did Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor).
McGregor and Christensen returned to the franchise in 2022 for Deborah Chow’s Disney+ limited series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. There, Kenobi’s life as Ben Kenobi was explored as he watched over a young Luke Skywalker on Tatooine before the Inquisitors–Darth Vader’s Force-sensitive Jedi hunters–tracked him down.
The Inquisitors were originally introduced in Dave Filoni’s Star Wars Rebels–the animated follow-up to Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the continuation of the Rebels’ plight against the sinister Galactic Empire. And it seems that Disney and Lucasfilm cannot stay away from this part of the galaxy.
At the beginning of July 2024, Marvel Comics began releasing a new four-part miniseries called “Star Wars: Inquisitors.” The first issue saw Darth Vader and his lethal compatriots hunt down a new character, the Jedi Knight Tensu Run.
Tensu Run, created by Rodney Barnes for the 2024 comic book series, looks to rebuild the Jedi Order in the Imperial Era. Three issues are already available (the third just dropped on September 11), with the fourth and final issue coming on October 2.
“A new miniseries kicking off July 3 from writer Rodney Barnes and artist Ramon Rosanas, Inquisitors follows the Empire’s Jedi hunters as they narrow in on a new target: Tensu Run, a survivor of Order 66 looking to spread hope and rebuild the Jedi Order,” StarWars.com wrote in April, ahead of the first issue’s release. “He has won the attention of Darth Vader, who is determined to have Tensu killed at any cost.”
This new figure in Star Wars lore continues the trend of Disney’s Star Wars embellishing pre-existing parts of the timeline. The addition of Tensu Run and his direct correlation with Darth Vader during such a critical time for the Galactic Empire retcons everything fans thought they knew about Vader and what they knew about Order 66.
“It’s such an honor to be writing the very first Inquisitors solo story!” Barnes told StarWars.com earlier this year. “I love this time period of Star Wars lore because it’s the one I grew up on — when Darth Vader and the Empire were imposing their will on the entire galaxy. Plus, I got to create an all-new legendary Jedi with Tensu Run! Truly the best of times!”
If Tensu Run’s urge to rebuild the Jedi Order–an intention that obviously did not come to fruition, as fans know judging by the lack of an Order during the original trilogy–was so loud that it attracted the attention of the iconic Sith Lord, then Run must have posed a serious threat to Vader and Emperor Palpatine’s imperial plans.
Not only that but for the completionist fans, this new chapter of Vader’s earlier years changes the impression audiences have about the character when revisiting the older material.
As alluded to earlier, this part of the Star Wars timeline is by no means new territory for the science fiction franchise. Shows like Star Wars Rebels and Obi-Wan Kenobi have tackled the pre-A New Hope arena, but the series that has perhaps explored it like no other is Dave Filoni’s The Bad Batch.
Taking place concurrently with the execution of Order 66, The Bad Batch‘s first season delved into the executive order’s mechanics and answered questions as to how a clone trooper can bypass the command, for example.
Over three years, The Bad Batch demonstrated that there is still a plethora of stories to tell from the Imperial Era of Star Wars, and even the most tragic event in galactic history can continue to be expanded.
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Not only did The Bad Batch address the clone troopers affected by Order 66, but it also contextualized many of the decisions Disney made with its live-action sequel trilogy, which ran from 2015 through 2019.
Most notably, The Bad Batch confirmed that the Emperor had always planned to create Force-sensitive clones using individuals, like Omega (Michelle Ang), with high M-counts. This was called Project Necromancer.
Related: Disney Officially Reboots ‘Star Wars’ After String of Disasters, Removes Sequels From Canon
While Filoni’s The Bad Batch may be over now, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy does have many plans to continue this Disney era of Star Wars, some potentially having links to the things set up in shows like The Bad Batch.
When it comes to the Jedi, though, one project is seemingly front and center: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s New Jedi Order movie, which stars Daisy Ridley as Rey Skywalker.
The project, announced last Spring at Star Wars Celebration Europe, will take place years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker and follow Ridley’s Rey as she aims to rebuild the Order as Luke Skywalker once tried to. Luke’s attempt collapsed after an almost fatal altercation with his nephew Ben Solo, the future Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).
Will Rey succeed in rebuilding this powerful faction? Or will, like Tensu Run, she fail to bring a new Order to the galaxy? Only time will tell what the next chapter of the Skywalker saga will hold.
How do you feel about Star Wars consistently retconning and adding new stories to these parts of the timeline? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!