The Star Wars Expanded Universe: I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This

Late November 2014. At 13 years old in 7th grade, I finally caught a glimpse of what was going to be the most exciting movie release of my lifetime the next year. As a young Star Wars fan who was raised on the franchise after all six episodic movies had been released in theaters, I had only grown up around the movies as experienced from my family room on my small TV. And after those experiences, the weekly animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars aired Friday nights on Cartoon Network. But suddenly, as I watched the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I could not wait for the onslaught of new Star Wars content for the years to come. Now seven years later, the onslaught has brought a mix of emotions for me and many other fans.

2012: Disney acquires Lucasfilm for $4 billion. A promise of new and improved, regular Star Wars content was to be expected. And it all started in late 2015 with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, currently claiming the number 4 spot on the list of the highest grossing movies of all time. It was a film that re-galvanized the fanbase. Excitement around Star Wars was higher than ever. My 14-year-old, 8th grade self had finally seen a Star Wars release in a packed theater of cheering fans. The prospect of what was to come was so exciting. We got movie after movie after that: Rogue One in 2016, The Last Jedi in 2017, Solo in 2018, and The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. Looking back on those releases, fans largely dub the sequel trilogy as lacking direction, focus, and overall a three part series that doesn’t fit well together, nor with the entire saga. However, fans applaud the two standalone films, Rogue One and Solo for taking more risks and being more unique stories than the episodic films, despite the fact that they made much less at the box office. The Mandalorian series on Disney’s streaming service, Disney+, has been a worldwide success and it’s often considered the best Star Wars content that Disney has ever made.

Last December, Disney announced a massive rollout of Star Wars titles that were in the works to be released on Disney+. Many fans were excited, yet I for one was a bit exasperated realizing that Disney was only ramping up an onslaught of Star Wars content. More than ten new projects had been announced, and while it was exciting to see that the universe would be expanded and more storylines would be explored, it just kind of seemed daunting to me as a fan. Now more than ever, I question if I really want to sit down and watch every single one of these new things. Is Disney just going so far deep into this intellectual property because they know they’ll instantly have an audience for it?

I’ve been quite skeptical of this massive rollout for the past year. The Book of Boba Fett came out in the winter to mixed reviews, and the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series coming later this month is highly anticipated by fans, with Andor releasing later in 2022. These series aren’t releasing all at once – it’s going to be a controlled rollout throughout the year – yet I worry if the growth is too much too fast. The magic and scale of the Star Wars universe is only growing, but in some ways it makes it less special. 

At their core, all the movies and series are fun. They’re great sci-fi movies, complete with beautiful cinematography, great action sequences, interesting characters (for the most part), and they’re overall enjoyable to watch. And for that reason and that reason alone, all of this new content is wonderful. However, from a storytelling standpoint, this makes Star Wars less accessible to the casual viewer. 

We’ve seen this with the Marvel Expanded Universe, or MCU, which Disney has also helped craft. I wouldn’t consider myself a Marvel fan, but I have seen a few Marvel movies over the years. However, I can hardly get into them because so much information within each film or series references other films or series within the overarching timeline, and you basically need to watch everything to understand anything at all. With expansive universes that span multiple movies and series that span decades, even hundreds of years, where in the timeline do you start? As a Star Wars fan, I’m afraid of that. I’m afraid of everything intertwining so much within the timeline that suddenly, if you haven’t watched a certain series, you won’t have any context for another series. Even though as a lifelong Star Wars fan I’ve been able to follow everything as it’s come out, it’s a dangerous expansion for anyone wanting to join the fandom.

The original release of Star Wars in 1977 was so monumental and widely popular because of its accessibility. It was a simple, two-hour, contained story with lovable characters that provided action and excitement. Did it hint at an expanded universe and indicate that there was more of this story to tell? Absolutely. But as the first movie in the franchise, it did not rely on viewers watching other Star Wars media, which did not exist at the time. Now so much exists, and for any new series, elements from older films will always find their way in, possibly confusing the casual viewer. Getting started and delving into the Star Wars universe as a new fan, aware of all the media to consume, is somewhat daunting.

For example, two upcoming series, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor, both to be released in 2022, about the characters after which these series are named, relate to appearances in previous movies. The upcoming Ahsoka series may be even more niche, as it is all about a character whose character development largely occurred over the course of two animated series, with only limited live action features in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. So, yes, this expanded universe encourages viewers to watch everything, but I believe this causes more harm for the franchise than good from a casual fan standpoint. Star Wars is becoming an oversaturated intellectual property, exploited for the assurance of superfan viewers. The universe is expanding and new storylines are being written, and as someone who’s watched most of it all, I can keep up and enjoy what’s coming out. However, it’ll come down to how the fans view all of these new productions, and if they see them simply as money grabs or not. Disney has made some great Star Wars, but I wonder if too much of a good thing too fast will turn Star Wars into a more inaccessible, massive universe in which casual fans may struggle to immerse themselves. When large, established movie franchises are spread too thin in this way, suddenly the famous intellectual property has more niche aspects to it. Such universes reward fandom and copious consumption, yet sometimes might overlook the more casual consumer.

The diehards and newcomers and everyone in between all have their place in the Star Wars fandom, and new content every year is meeting high demand – for now. Disney is doing so much so well, but ultimately the fans and their money will decide the trajectory of the universe. Grand ideas may fall flat with poor reception. All I would say to Disney is: be careful not to choke on your aspirations.