After the relatively underwhelming success of 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, Lucasfilm and Disney have seemed to scrap many of the spinoff ideas they had been planning. Paired with the mixed reviews from The Rise of Skywalker, it feels like the two studios may be a little less hasty to pull the trigger from now on. However, the praise of the Disney Plus series, The Mandalorian, seems to have restored faith in the possibilities of expanding the already expansive Star Wars universe, causing us fanboys to brainstorm our own ideas for what we could possibly see in the future. There’s a lot of material out there in the form of novels, comic books, and several animated series, that the people behind the new film and television division of Star Wars could have a lot to pull from as inspiration. That is, if they wanted to.

Here, we explore just a few of the countless possibilities for origins stories within the universe:

1. Jabba the Hutt

To many, there’s no character in the Star Wars universe more elusive than Jabba the Hutt. The crime lord was the bane of Han Solo’s existence, and probably vice versa, but before George Lucas decided to tamper with the theatrical cuts of the original films, the name “Jabba the Hutt” was shrouded in mystery for Episodes IV and V during their original releases. That is, until we finally got to see what the infamous gangster looked like in Return of the Jedi. The Han Solo prequel was divisive to say the least, but only gave us glimpses of what a Star Wars underworld could look like. And to be honest, they were some of the best aspects in that movie.

There’s a lot of Jabba material to work with in the expanded universe, including the Clone Wars TV series and the pseudo-canonical novel, Tales from Jabba’s Palace, so creating a mob-themed film or show surrounding the infamous villain may even write itself. Lucasfilm actually had plans for a Jabba the Hutt project back in 2017, but have since been pretty mute on the idea. There are so many fan favorites who hang out at Jabba’s Palace that the possibilities almost make your mouth water.

2. Greedo

Speaking of banes of Han Solo’s existence, Greedo is one of the most notable Star Wars characters to only appear in a single scene, so it’s only natural for us to wonder about the bug-like bounty hunter’s story before ultimately meeting his fate on Tatooine. Perhaps digging into some of the stories from the 2017 anthology novel, From a Certain Point of View, would provide a solid launching point.

3. Captain Phasma

One of the frustrating missteps by the Star Wars sequel trilogy is never revealing the much-teased identity of one particular Stormtrooper captain. The expanded universe has been kind to Captain Phasma, giving us a lot of information about her past. She’s also well-represented in the Star Wars Resistance animated TV show. However, animation isn’t for everyone and maintaining the same live-action style as the medium she was introduced in should not go understated. (Imagine Han Solo’s death coming in a cartoon TV show rather than a theatrical movie. That wouldn’t really fly.)

4. R5-D4

Luke’s companion droid almost wasn’t R2-D2. In fact, the Jawas initially sold Luke’s Uncle Owen a droid named R5-D4, who Luke affectionately referred to as “Red”. But the astromech blew his top, prompting Luke and Owen to believe the droid was broken goods. They returned Red and sought out a working droid instead–R2-D2. R2 was undoubtedly crucial to the overall mission of defeating the Death Star, and R5-D4’s self-sacrifice is a big reason for the Rebel’s success. An origins story about an unintelligible droid would be unique to say the least, so perhaps a Disney Plus mini-series would be a suitable outlet to tell the droid’s tale. The show runners could even use Rae Carson’s canonical short story “The Red One” for inspiration.

5. Snoke

There may be no character evoking more questions and theories in the sequel trilogy than Supreme Leader Snoke. Apparently a creation of Palpatine, fans still want to fully know the circumstances surrounding his existence. Did he have free will all along, or could he have betrayed Palpatine at any time? How far back were Palpatine’s plans made? And what was he planning on doing with the rest of the “Snokes” he had stored in jars on Exegol? Fans of the sequel trilogy would, no doubt, love to see his trajectory, which is detailed in some of the comic books, come to fruition in another medium.

6. Qui-Gon Jinn

We see Qui-Gon well-represented in various Star Wars media, but his only feature film or television depiction is from The Phantom Menace, along with brief force ghost appearances in the Clone Wars series. There’s a lot in the expanded universe detailing the Jedi Master’s history, especially in comic book form, but it would be great to see how he was brought up and even how he met his apprentice, Obi Wan.

7. C-3PO

We’re told the protocol droid was built by a young Anakin in The Phantom Menace, but neither the droid nor Darth Vader seemed to recognize one another in the original trilogy. Even Obi-Wan curiously never addresses whether or not he’s seen Threepio before. So what happened between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope? We know his memory was wiped, but there isn’t a ton of content out there about what happened during those gap years. Elsewhere in Star Wars lore, we would come to find out that Anakin didn’t, in fact, build C-3PO from scratch, rather fixed the broken droid to better sustain the heat and terrain on Tatooine. So it would be interesting to see Threepio’s past before winding up in the young Jedi’s hands.

8. The Millennium Falcon

We see the world’s most famous spaceship switch hands a couple times throughout the cinematic universe, especially in the Han Solo prequel. But who built this bucket of bolts that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs? Who was the original owner and how did it wind up in the hands of Lando? The Star Wars universe is riddled with appearances and mentions of the craft, including the knowledge of its involvement in the Clone Wars and even a brief cameo in Revenge of the Sith, but there’s no definitive enough saga to explain all that this ship has seen. We want to know more!

About the Author: Ethan Brehm

Ethan Brehm

Related Posts

TRENDING

TRENDING now