When George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, he did so with the purest intentions with the goal to focus on raising his daughter while ensuring the worlds he created to live on creatively. He even entrusted his film empire to long time collaborator and Hollywood mainstay Kathleen Kennedy, believing her hands were best to usher Star Wars into a new generation. George even donated the majority of his $4 billion earning from the sale to various education charities.
Lucasfilm and the Sequel Trilogy Era have continuously leaned into the theme of hope. This messaging of sorts began with 2016’s Rogue one. “Rebellions are built on hope,” Jyn Erso would plead in trailers and the film’s third act. When asked what the data module was at the end, a de-aged Leia would offer an ever-optimistic one word response - “hope.” Even the much maligned Last Jedi proposes that “if you only believe in it when you see it, you'll never make it through the night." In her article The Simple Magic of Hope, StarWars.com's Kristin Baver srgues that hope is an essential element to the Star Wars DNA. To pair a relaunch of a beloved franchise with a common, shared theme is a great strategy. However, Lucasfilm and Disney - which will be referred to synonymously herein - have seemingly ignored that sentiment in their treatment of the franchise, its talent, and most importantly - its fans.
Since Disney and Kathleen Kennedy took the reins, Star Wars has struggled to win the affection of fans, despite a strong start with 2015’s The Force Awakens. Each subsequent installment in the sequel trilogy shows a disparity between fan and critical reception. Despite a strong start to the franchise’s streaming front with the Mandalorian, a gradual drop in quality, reception, and viewership has been observed with each new show. While each project certainly has it’s high moments, they are negated by either regressive character beats or by diverting character focus all together.
The sequel trilogy is notoriously inconsistent in messaging and narrative, deliberately undoing each installments’ predecessor. Narratively, the sequel trilogy disregards story contributions and journeys of key characters, seemingly sweeping them aside to usher in new lukewarm characters. Obi Wan Kenobi has an amazing final duel between Vader and Obi Wan, but the series opts to divert focus and deify Reva. Book of Boba Fett neutered the title character, turning him into a shadow of what fans were looking forward to and relegated him to a side character in his own show.
A trend can also be observed that Lucasfilm has over promised and under delivered, and not just in quality of product. At the time of writing there are currently 18 officially announced projects that are either uncertain or cancelled. Contrast that with 20 projects that have actually materialized - that is an almost 50/50 chance of an officially announced project of actually seeing the light of day. Not only is the seeming lack of care for projects evident in cancellations, but also in the radio silence in many. Rogue Squadron, Patty Jenkins’ Top-Gun-in-space film, the Knights of the Old Republic Remake, and Eclipse have all been in and out of development since their respective official announcements and have been virtually radio silent. Not only do these constant delays and back-and-forth show a disrespect for the creators’ abilities and time, but also disrespect for the fans and their commitment to the IP - more on the ladder later.
This poor treatment also extends to the talent on screen, as evidenced by Gina Carano and John Boyega. Carano was unceremoniously fired by Disney and Lucasfilm from her role as Cara Dune in the Mandalorian after a series of ill calculated social media posts. Regardless of one’s stances, it is clear that a certain point of view was supported by the companies and Carano’s ran counter to that. To her credit, she is in the midst of a wrongful termination lawsuit against Disney, and rightfully so. John Boyega has also been vocal about his and his character’s mistreatment:
“[But] what I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up” - John Boyega, GQ 2020
We’ll take all that with the understanding that Hollywood is a tough business, even if it's performed with questionable quality - both of character and quality. Sure, business is business. Which is why the final notion of Lucasfilm mistreating fans is particularly, if not the most, egregious. While the Force Awakens was relatively well received, the Last Jedi witnessed a wave of fan backlash rejecting everything from Rose Tico, to Snoke’s bait and switch, to the treatment of Luke Skywalker’s character. How did Rian Johnson react to such criticism? By mocking the fans and refusing to understand or acknowledge the genuine criticisms.
Lucasfilm officials made another gaffe just after the Mandalorian Season 2 finale. Popular Star Wars personality Star Wars Theory streamed a live reaction to the finale which saw Luke Skywalker return in the most epic, triumphant manner after his treatment in the Last Jedi. Like many of us, Theory wept with excitement as he witnessed the return of his childhood hero in their truest form. How did Lucasfilm Official Pablo Hidalgo choose to react? By blatantly mocking Theory for his emotional response. The situation is summarized by Theory himself below.
Further, more recent accusations by Lucasfilm creatives place blame squarely on the fans for the Acolyte’s failure. Leslie Headland, Amanda Stenberg, and Jodi Turner Smith have all blamed the amorphous “toxic fans.” Rian Johnson has stated, regarding Star Wars fans, that “I think the fandom has to take a stand against getting defined by a very small slice of it that does not represent the lion’s share.” He is absolutely correct in this - but as part of the fandom that is exactly what we’re doing, and have always done. However, creatives continue to cite phobias and racism for poor reception rather than take accountability for its poor quality and paint genuine criticism as genuine hate.
None of this is meant to dig up old drama, further an agenda, or even to throw stones at creatives. In fact, I quite understand that the movie making business and managing a franchise is incredibly complex. However, there have been far too many missteps by Disney and Lucasfilm in their handling of the beloved Galaxy Far, Far Away. At a certain point, it almost has to be intentional. It is the true irony of modern Star Wars that with such an emphasis on hope, it certainly is hard to have any for the franchise’s future. Despite that, as ironic as it may also be, I do have hope for Star Wars and its future. and encourage you to as well! After all …
“Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it, you won’t make it through the night.” - Leia Organa