Given what we've seen so far...

[Jedi Marso]

Assuming it could have been done without miles and years of legal loopholes...

Given what we've seen so far with the sequel trilogy, does anyone think Disney would have been better off keeping the EU, recasting the original actors, and making Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy as the sequels?

 

[The Wormhole]

No

 

[Ithekro]

Given what we've see, they still might recast the original hero characters as proxy versions of themselves (a Luke-like character that isn't Luke for example....like Erza maybe) and still do a remake of the Thrawn Trilogy.

 

[KennyB]

Nope

 

[INACTIVESamusAranX]

Only in a limited sense. And by that I mean taking some of the genuinely compelling stories and making them with their own flair. A Thrawn trilogy reboot would have been interesting to me. That said, it would still require them to decanonize the EU. I miss the EU but I also understand completely as to why it has to be made “Legends”.

 

[EnderAKH]

God. No.

 

[Campe]

No thank you.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

After what happened with Thrawn in Rebels it would be kind of hard to do now. Hard but not impossible I guess.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Given what happened to Mara Jade later on, no.

 

[Tuskin38]

After what happened with Thrawn in Rebels it would be kind of hard to do now. Hard but not impossible I guess.

Thrawn is still alive.

 

[DarKush]

I do wish they had incorporated more aspects of the EU, if not the entire EU itself. I wish we had gotten the Solo kids, some of the new Jedi (like Corran Horn, Ganner Rhysode), the Yuuzhan Vong, Mara Jade, Ben Skywalker, Lumiya, maybes for the One Sith, StealthX wings, Lost Tribe of Sith, and Abeloth. I would be fine with them altering them if necessary for the purposes of the film

I also wouldn't have minded seeing an adaptation of the Thrawn trilogy or Dark Empire. I wouldn't go for recasting the original actors.

 

[The Wormhole]

I wouldn't go for recasting the original actors.

That's a problem since of the big three two are too old and one's dead.

 

[Tuskin38]

the Yuuzhan Vong

Pardon my french, but fuck no.

 

[DarKush]

To the last two posters, this is what I would've liked to have seen. Granted, you both have opinions about that, which is your right, but I repeat, it's what I would have liked to have seen. The Yuzhaan Vong were more original and terrifying than the retread First Order, the emotionally needy Kylo Ren, and the ill-defined Snoke (truly a phantom menace). And as the OP pondered, their question set things at the conception stage for the new Disney films, a time when all three major original trilogy cast members were alive so recasting wouldn't be an issue. Even now, I would rather they write deceased actors out of the series instead of recasting, though I am intrigued by the rumor of Meryl Streep playing Leia in Episode IX, mainly because it's Meryl Streep. If they were doing movies's set earlier in the timeline then I'm up for recasting. The fan speculation about Sebastian Stan as young Luke, I would be on board for that.

I feel that sometimes there is such a strong desire to defend the Disney films at all costs it seems that some people are looking to bat down any speculation or ideas that they view as dissent against the new sacred holy writ of Disney Star Wars; conversely some of the same folks might (hypocritically) deride fans of the original trilogy (don't know if this applies to prequel specific fans) as deifying the original trilogy. I can't speak for the OP, but I don't care for the new Star Wars, I liked the EU better than the future Disney gave us, and I have a right to voice that as much as the Disney defenders have to express themselves. I know that Disney went another route, I know that the movies (until Solo) have raked in tons of money, and I know that the new films and universe has fans, but from a 'what if' perspective, I can, do, and will continue to speculate and ponder about what could've been if the EU had been fully incorporated or more explicitly used. Every attempt to bat that down will not stop me from speculating. Besides, the EU has seeped back into the new canon regardless.

 

[Qonundrum]

Has anyone read or heard about the "leaks" for Episode IX? If the leaks are true, some of them sound promising.

Spoiler: Uh, okay

IX takes place half a decade after VIII. Ren winning the battle against the Resistance (who were called "Rebels" in VIII in some scenes regardless) rules with benevolence. But there's not only a deep dark cliché of a secret behind all of that (so Rey taught him nothing in the end?), there's also more callbacks to Vader... oh, and a love child involved. It's also claimed that Driver and Ridley will be back after the "trilogy" is completed. Leia is recast. The Knights of Ren will finally be involved, and I've no qualms with their being held back 2 flicks. I hope what's shown is as good as what's told.

So...

Spoiler: My take on that

So they're ditching Rian's changes and going back to family soap opera. Not entirely bad since they're focusing on Rey and Ren instead of Leia/Luke, and it's great that Ren (who is under-appreciated as a villain) and Rey will get more movies to properly do what TFA and TLJ should have done from the ground up, instead of making it as they went along (like how Luke and Leia were treated back in their day).

Still, the unanswered questions and fake-outs. Some need to be addressed and here's some free R&D for the biggie: The Knights of Ren could be written to be involved as part of "the map" - they knew of Luke's presence, but used him as a distraction for the Rebels since Luke just didn't care. That would also be a key factor as to how Ren succeeded in the takeover of the galaxy, because Rey was hounding Luke instead of looking into herself. Especially as she could take the Falcon from "Zero" to "Kessel-under-12" in no time.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Spoiler: Uh, okay

IX takes place half a decade after VIII. Ren winning the battle against the Resistance (who were called "Rebels" in VIII in some scenes regardless) rules with benevolence. But there's not only a deep dark cliché of a secret behind all of that (so Rey taught him nothing in the end?), there's also more callbacks to Vader... oh, and a love child involved. It's also claimed that Driver and Ridley will be back after the "trilogy" is completed. Leia is recast. The Knights of Ren will finally be involved, and I've no qualms with their being held back 2 flicks. I hope what's shown is as good as what's told.

There's at least one bit in there that can't happen:

Spoiler: spoiler

It's already been confirmed that Leia will NOT be recast.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Well, I do like Zahn's trilogy, and I do like Thrawn, in fact I wish they would make a movie about him. But as far as the trilogy goes, I think too much of SW has changed since that was written. They were written before the prequels or any idea of any sequels were penned, so even if they could, a large chunk of it would have to be rewritten. A large part of those stories referred to the Clone Wars and ideas that were had about them before the prequels were made, and that would have to be scratched and new ideology and mythos put in their place.

Maybe they can still make a standalone movie that features Thrawn and Talon Karrde.

 

[Jedi Marso]

I also wouldn't have minded seeing an adaptation of the Thrawn trilogy or Dark Empire. I wouldn't go for recasting the original actors.

I guess they could have done an adaptation of the Thrawn Triology with the OT actors, making their offspring the main protagonists and doing a 'changing of the guard.' And while I was never a huge fan of Dark Empire, there are some elements in there that might ultimately have made for a great sequel trilogy on film- perhaps minus a lot of the 'clone emperor' stuff.

Also, as someone else posted, I tend to forget that the Thrawn trilogy was written before the prequels and much of the stuff in it was knocked out by the movies. From that perspective, an adaptation would be necessary. I guess what rankles me about the dreck we've gotten from Disney is that there was so much good material from the EU to mine and they simply chose to ignore all of it.

 

[DarKush]

^
I think the clone emperor works better than Snoke IMO. Plus, it would be great to see/hear Ian McDiarmid again in a live-action Star Wars film. I don't think they've ever found another villain that has been as formidable as Palpatine.

 

[Owain Taggart]

The thing about the EU is, they practically had to ignore it and start over. It would have been an impossible task to go over it and choose what to keep, so they just ditched it all and started a new EU. Going forward, Disney had a very different idea of what it wanted which was different compared to EU, which is why there's a whole new set of novels with their own timeline. It is disappointing as fans, but sometimes we can't all have what we want. I remember feeling disappointed that they hadn't at least chosen some elements of the Thrawn novels in the new trilogy.

But I don't know if anyone's been reading the new Thrawn prequels? There are two of them out now. They're part of the new book timeline, which gives me hope that sometime in the future, they could make a movie. Reading the first one now and it's pretty good, if moving a bit fast at times.

I don't think they've ever found another villain that has been as formidable as Palpatine.

That's true. I feel someone like Thrawn would have been able to fill those shoes though. Someone unique and mysterious enough for a general audience combined with the style of tactician he is, someone we could have learned about over the course of 3 movies. That's part of what feels like a wasted opportunity. The current trilogy doesn't feel very grounded in that respect. In the OT, we had both Palpatine and Vader and they were pretty much a constant presence. I don't really feel the new trilogy has much of that going on. We have Kylo. Snoke? We barely got to know him before he got cut down, and if he truly is someone important, then he should have been in TFA and carried his presence throughout to the 3rd.

That's part of my problem with this new trilogy. We as an audience barely know what our heroes are fighting for. And it feels like they barely know as well. In turn, we feel less for the characters. Oh yes, they're fighting for their lives, but so did the others in OT and the prequels. But both of those had common grounded threats. Kylo feels like he's acting in a vacuum. Surely he can't be acting alone. There have to be others in the Empire. This part of the new trilogy seems to be awfully thought of. It's why I feel the deaths end up lacking punch.