The Future of the Anthology Series

[Logopolis]

So, for those of us who have seen Rogue, there seems to be a consensus that the film was (at the very least) good. After Episode VIII, we'll have the Han Solo origin film. Given the success (so far) of Rogue, where can we see Anthology taking the franchise?

I personally think the Han Solo film is both too safe and utterly unnecessary because part of the intrigue of Ford's character was the fact that he was morally ambiguous with an unclear backstory. That's why we love Han Solo - it leaves so much for the imagination. Whereas, this origin film will now needlessly fill in the gaps with a safe and marketable character.

To me, Anthology was about taking risks with the franchise which wasn't entirely possible with the core saga. Rogue is an excellent first take on this idea because of the new characters, settings, and the overall premise of the hard boiled militaristic film. I'd love to see Anthology go to a totally different time period. Up until 2019, we'll have 2 films set around the ANH era while three films would have been set post-ROTJ.

Though it's early days, i'd love to see Anthology really mix it up - especially if the rumours of a Boba Fett film are to be believed.

I'm excited for the future of Anthology, but just hope they really embrace the opportunity to be daring.

What do we think?

 

[Commander Richard]

Jyn said something that piqued my interest. It's just a throwaway line with two words and doesn't spoil anything but I'll put in in a spoiler tag anyway.

Spoiler: Rogue One

Black Saber.

A story possibility?

 

[Logopolis]

Possibly. One thing is for sure...

Spoiler

...she won't be around to see it. But, i'm glad they killed her character. Not because I disliked her, but it gave her character realism, gravity and closure through her ultimate sacrifice.

I'd love to see a Coruscant noir story with the criminal underbelly of Star Wars. A proper Blade Runner-esque noir, none of the nonsense that we saw in AOTC.

 

[LJones41]

Rogue is an excellent first take on this idea because of the new characters, settings, and the overall premise of the hard boiled militaristic film.

Is it possible that one day, there will be a Star Wars movie that has nothing to do with a hardy band of rebels fighting against a powerful military/political force?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'd love to see a film version of Alien Exodus.

 

[Logopolis]

Is it possible that one day, there will be a Star Wars movie that has nothing to do with a hardy band of rebels fighting against a powerful military/political force?

I hope so. Personally, I could see an Anthology film doing a Western type of film where the setting is somewhere in this isolated Mos Eisley type of township where the townsfolk are being harassed by a local crime cartel, sort of like Jabba or sand people.

 

[Commander Richard]

I like stories about the Jedi and the force, etc. but I get the impression that a lot of people don't.

I much prefer that over space battles and shoot-em-ups eventhough Star Wars needs that too.

 

[Logopolis]

I'm fine with stories about Jedi and The Force, just as long as it is one type of story they tell rather than a template for the future of Star Wars.

 

[The Wormhole]

Is it possible that one day, there will be a Star Wars movie that has nothing to do with a hardy band of rebels fighting against a powerful military/political force?

Isn't that basically the prequel trilogy?

I like stories about the Jedi and the force, etc. but I get the impression that a lot of people don't.

I get the impression of the opposite. I remember when it was announced the Force wouldn't figure into Rogue One at all, there was outcries of "but Star Wars is about the Force!" Never mind the dearly lamented EU explored many facets of the SW universe, many of which had nothing to do with the Force.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

With some of the appearances of known characters in Rogue One, I am now wondering if this will affect the presentation of Han Solo in his... erm, solo movie.

 

[LJones41]

Isn't that basically the prequel trilogy?

No. Not really. It's the Original Trilogy and the Sequel Trilogy . . . so far. As for the Prequel Trilogy, that trope was more or less used as a red herring for something more ambiguous.

 

[Jax]

We know there is a Han Solo origin movie and I imagine they will want to do more than one Han Solo movie. I don't mind if they do two but I would hope they don't do a Trilogy simply because I like the idea of keeping the Episode titles as the trilogy stories. So along with Han movies, I would love to see a Vader movies too in between Episode 3 & 4 on his Jedi Purge.

One day I wouldn't mind them going back to the Old Republic to see them show the origins of both the Jedi and Sith, the formation of the original Republic and Sith/Jedi War. Disney can rewrite the extended universe of the past and not just post OT era and beyond.

 

[JD]

I'm really hoping we get at least one ancient Jedi and Sith movie. They've already been revealing bits and pieces of history in Rebels and Clone Wars, so there are already some established elements they could use to build the movie off of.

 

[Relayer1]

I lived Rogue One, but they didn't recast any of the stellar cast from the original trilogy.

I'm concerned about the Han Solo movie...

 

[Ithekro]

CGI characters in place of the original human actor probably is not up to the point to carry the movie as the lead, yet. I don't think they could pull of imposing a young Harrison Ford face on the new actor for the whole film and pull it off. They might try, but not sure if it would work.

 

[JD]

Are the appearances in RO more than just cameos?
You can get away with digital face replacement, or combining old and new footage for one or two scenes, but, like Ithekro said you probably couldn't do it for a whole movie.

 

[Solid Snack]

You know, when mapping out out the films, Lucas apparentally had a brief idea for Episode One to actually be about the origins of the Star Wars galaxy-the founding of the Jedi and Republic, and possibly the early wars with the Sith. (With episode II and III dealing with the whole Anakin/Obi-Wan stuff).

Of course we sort of saw that concept in the Dawn of the Jedi/Tales of the Jedi/Knights of the Old Republic stuff. In fact, I'm pretty sure the TOR MMO is pretty much the only part of the "Legends" EU that's still making new content.....

But maybe it could work as a movie, or movies?

 

[marillion]

Are the appearances in RO more than just cameos?
You can get away with digital face replacement, or combining old and new footage for one or two scenes, but, like Ithekro said you probably couldn't do it for a whole movie.

Exactly... I could buy it with Tron Legacy because Tron and Clu were/are programs.. Granted, the rest of the programs were portrayed by actual people and not CGI, but it helped with my suspension of disbelief.

But done in the way they de-aged Michael Douglas in Ant Man and Robert Downey Junior in Civil War, it was almost flawless. Almost. lol

 

[Logopolis]

In the context of an animated film, a CGI rendition of a well-known actor or character is fine because it is suited to a film of that nature. But, when your introduction to a character in a film was as a live actor, it's just jarring to see a version of them years later that is literally a digital replication of that character in another live film. It just took me out of the film. Of course, this is all subjective as i'm sure there were a slew of fans overjoyed to see the characters revisited in CGI.

For the same reason I wouldn't want to see John Lennon and George Harrison replicated as holograms on stage with McCartney and Starr, the characters of Star Wars who are aged or deceased should remain that way because when they played those roles they gave us their version of the characters. CGI takes that away because , at best, we're getting an outstanding imitation. Again, for video games and animated movies it is absolutely fine. But CGI is no substitute for the live action character.

 

[Solid Snack]

It even took comic films a bit to get things right as well (X-men 3's prologue being a major example). Not Marvel studios I know, but a similar practice.