5 Star Wars Anthology Films We Would Like To See
Written by Cam Clark & Seth McDonald
It has been five years now since Disney purchased Lucasfilm in what is arguably the biggest deal in the history of cinema. With such a vast universe to explore, they face one of the more bittersweet problems in Hollywood. So Where does Disney go next? With the success of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Disney has proven that a Star Wars doesn’t necessarily need to have Skywalker or a lightsaber in it to be successful.
We, like countless others, have our own suggestions as to Disney’s next move. Here at LRM would like audiences to experience something new, something more, something different, and because of this we thought we’d come up with our own ideas of what future Star Wars stories there should be.
In this list we’ll give you the pitch of our visions, the timeline it takes place in, and an explanation of why we think it would work.
The Legacy of the Sith
The Pitch
Just over a thousand years before The Phantom Menace, the Galaxy is in chaos as the Sith war rages on. A Sith Lord called Darth Bane has killed his weak-minded master and is on the lookout for a new apprentice. Darth Bane has had a vision of the future. He knows he will never rule the galaxy himself, and that he must ensure the survival of the doomed Sith Lords, so that one day the Sith would rule as was their desire. But he must find an apprentice, and train them to one day take over from him, and ensure his new order lives on.
Hunted by other Sith Lords and the Jedi alike, Bane’s vision tells him he must turn a Jedi to the Dark Side, someone who chooses him over the Jedi of their own free will. Meanwhile, Jedi Knights Master Jonna Thoros and his Padawan Rain Zannah (borrowing a little from the now non-canon books) are on a mission to find out exactly how many Sith Lords remain as a threat to the Galaxy.
Bane sees this Padawan as an opportunity, and desires to see the powerful and unstable Rain Zannah to be his new apprentice. He devises a plan to lead the Jedi on a chase throughout the galaxy as he deals with the final remaining Sith Lords until only Bane remains and Zannah is left with a choice to end the Sith forever or join Bane as his new apprentice and ensure the Sith’s survival.
The Timeline
The Knights of the Old Republic video game. Over a thousand years ago when there were hundreds of Sith and Jedi fighting for control of the galaxy, a period in which ultimately the Sith destroyed one another as much as they lost to the Jedi order. This contest lasted for years and years until finally the Jedi thought the Sith were no more. However, Darth Bane, who saw the inevitable destruction of the Sith at their own hands, decided to create a new order. Once he was the final Sith alive he initiated the “Rule of two,” one master, one apprentice, which would ensure the Sith’s survival right up until the time of the Prequel trilogy. It is worth noting that any previous novels on Darth Bane were made non-canon when Disney rebooted the Universe before the release of The Force Awakens, though Disney has made a precedent for cherrypicking things from this expanded universe.
Why It Would Work
One of the most requested periods for an anthology story by Star Wars fans is the era of The Knights of the Old Republic, which was the basis of the old Xbox RPG video game of the same name many years ago. It has the familiarity of Star Wars staples such as Sith and Jedi, but in a period so far relatively untouched by any visual medium thereby ensuring a much broader scope for the writers.
With the focus on the Sith instead of the Jedi it also has the chance to be a more adult film in the ilk of Rogue One and to become something quite unique in the Star Wars canon.
Empire Academy
The Pitch
The film would take us on the journey of becoming an Imperial Stormtrooper, from cadet to graduation. As close as we can get to a Disney version of Full Metal Jacket in space. For the most part, Stormtroopers are one of the best running jokes in Star Wars. Their infamous inaccuracy is the source of many jokes and memes on the internet. We think it’s about time for Stormtroopers to be respected for the highly trained soldiers that they are.
In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Disney gave us a Stormtrooper we could care about, they humanized the role, gave us a face, that had a story, and a person struggling with inner turmoil. We think it would be a great idea to continue this trend, and watch a soldier go from cadet to trooper and to give more legitimacy to the army of the most powerful military force in the galaxy. With endless resources behind them, one would think the Empire would produce a better quality of soldier.
The Timeline
Right after the Galactic Empire rises to complete power, set between Episodes 3 and 4. When the change is made from Clonetrooper to Stormtrooper.
Why It Would Work
This is a process fans would very much like to see. For this one, Disney could pull from the Star Wars Legends (the currently non-canon expanded universe) archives and base the movie at Carida Academy, an ancient military institution that trained soldiers for millennia. It was once known as the Republic Military Academy, and was later taken over by the Empire and renamed Imperial Military Academy. A film such as this, would show fans what we like to call the other side of the galaxy, meaning, stories set in the Star Wars universe that do not directly focus on the Jedi, Sith or anyone that utilizes The Force. More of what fans got a good dose of in Rogue One; a different aspect of Star Wars could be very refreshing.
Ben Kenobi: Bounty Hunter
The Pitch
In his solitude on Tattooine, Obi Wan/Ben Kenobi receives an unexpected visit from Bounty Hunter Cad Bane, an old Nemesis from the Clone Wars. Bane carries a message from a mysterious unknown customer who has hired him for a mission. The stranger threatens to expose Kenobi’s location to Darth Vader if he does not help them capture Imperial Governor Tharris Don.
Bane has been hired to accompany Kenobi and make sure he stays on mission, and even he knows not the identity of the “customer.” Ben, unable to risk Vader being pointed towards his home world, reluctantly agrees to the job. He must find a way to discover the identity of his blackmailer and assess how much they know of his reason for being on Tattooine, all while not alerting Cad Bane. The two unlikely partners head off in search of a way to capture Governor Don with Kenobi disguised as a fellow Bounty Hunter on an intergalactic road trip.
Timeline
Set between Episode 3 and Episode 4, while Luke is just a child on Tattooine.
We know very little about the 20 years Ben Kenobi spent watching over Luke on Tattooine, other than some small details touched by the animated series Star Wars Rebels. Giving a huge period of time for Ben to have had some adventures.
Why It Would Work
There have been rumors around an Obi Wan standalone movie for a while and honestly, I think it will be high on Lucasfilms idea board. McGregor is the perfect age to play Kenobi at this stage of his life and seems keen to have another shot at playing the famous Jedi Master. Of course the story idea above is just my own to give some flavor to the idea, but there is real potential here to put Kenobi in a situation he has never been before, one where he will be tempted to the darkside out of his desire to protect Luke’s secret.
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Ascension of the Sith
The Pitch
A power struggle between Sith Lord and Sith apprentice.
In order to truly rule the galaxy, Darth Plagueis knows he must seize control. In order to do this, he concocts a plan to get this apprentice Darth Sidious into public service to gain control of the Senate. Plagueis must ensure Sidious is strong enough to conceal his power from those around him and any Jedi he might encounter. If Sidious, under his guidance, can move into a powerful position in the Senate, then they can start to manipulate events and prepare for the ascension of the Sith to power.
However Darth Sidious is a cunning and wily player, he plans his own ascension to Master of the Sith, so that one day he may rule the Galaxy himself rather than hand his power over to his Master. The relationship between Sith Lord and Sith apprentice is a dangerous balancing act, and both are playing a very dangerous hand in this game of risk and reward.
Timeline
Set many years before The Phantom Menace, when the Republic was at relative peace. During this period, the Jedi numbered in the thousands and believed the Sith to be extinct. There are only two Sith, Darth Plagueis and his young apprentice Darth Sidious.
Again an unexplored timeline in Star Wars visual medium and would present the opportunity to see the Sith as they existed for almost a thousand years, and explore just how Darth Sidious becomes the one to finally attain power after so many Sith Lords failed.
Why It Would Work
The Emperor/Darth Sidious is the one character that I have heard many fans say they would really like to see a prequel/backstory for. We know he somehow managed to hide right under the noses of everyone including the Jedi for years, and that he killed his old Master Darth Plagueis in his sleep. We know he trained Darth Maul from a very small child, but we have no idea exactly when Sidious ascended to Sith Lord in his timeline, for all we know it could have been just before The Phantom Menace.
This idea would be to have a younger actor portray the Sith apprentice making his plans and getting himself into the position we see him years later in The Phantom Menace. It would be a completely different way of looking at a Star Wars movie, one where you inevitably know what will happen, but not the how and why. Could Sidious have had another apprentice before Maul? There’s a lot of material to be explored here.
Perhaps even more intriguing, it could also be a lower budget affair with less characters and a more adult tone, like a House of Cards version of Star Wars.
Jabba’s Gambit
The Pitch
A crime family film starring the biggest gangster in the Star Wars universe. As close as Disney would let us get to The Godfather in space. Fans have seen through the Star Wars animated series that the influence of the Hutt family is not limited to Jabba, but that Jabba is probably the most ruthless.
Disney could, if handled correctly, make this both a great crime film and a great Star Wars film. Now, what the film would be about, well there are a plethora of possibilities to choose from. For example, I think a good place to start would be for Disney to base the film off of Jim Woodring’s Jabba the Hutt: The Art of the Deal. This Dark Horse comic anthology tells the story of Jabba’s rise to power, that eventually leads him and his underlings to rule Tatooine’s underworld, and establish the planet as his crime network’s headquarters.
The Hutt Gambit, a novel written by Ann C. Crispin covers the story of how Jabba and Han Solo came to be in business with each other. It is possible that Alden Ehrenreich is under contract for more than just the Han Solo movie, so it’s not out of the question that a film based on The Hutt Gambit is being discussed around the Disney table. Tales from Jabba’s Palace is another great resource from which Disney could pull ideas and stories from for the film.
The Timeline
Many options available here, Young Jabba’s rise to power, an established Jabba ruling Tatooine. Or around the timeline of Young Han Solo, meaning Alden Ehrenreich or Donald Glover could feature.
Why It Would Work
Jabba the Hut has had a Godfather-esque feel about him since we first seen him in Return of the Jedi (Yes, I still consider this as the first appearance of Jabba). The extent of Jabba’s power and influence is far reaching throughout the galaxy, but the finer points of Jabba’s life haven’t been explored on screen.
Even though Jabba has known connections to Boba Fett, having him in the film would be a bit predictable, especially when there is a good chance he may get his own film, or at the very least show up in the Han Solo stand-alone film, Solo: A Star Wars Story. A better idea would be to feature the bounty hunter Cad Bane as Jabba’s go-to guy. Cad Bane is a character many Star Wars fans would enjoy seeing in a live action film. He stole most every scene he was a part of in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
To clarify, we wouldn’t be against Boba Fett or Han Solo showing up in a Jabba the Hutt movie, it would just need to be done delicately and plans for Boba Fett must first be sorted out.
One obstacle involved making a movie about Jabba, since the character isn’t known to speak English (from what I understand he can, but finds it to be beneath him), Jabba’s dialogue would have to be presented through subtitles. While some fans may be fine with this, it is likely that this would be something that could turn the casual fan off the movie if the Hutt gangster was given the kind of screen time we are talking about here.
So there you have it, while there are many, many stories to pull out of a galaxy far, far away. This collection is a few we would like to see get made. Your suggestions are more than welcome in the comments!
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