The popularity of the Star Wars Jedi video games has led to continued speculation that the Force-wielding protagonist, Cal Kestis, might one day make the leap to the big or small screen.
We've heard on multiple occasions that Gotham star Cameron Monaghan is likely to reprise this role in a live-action setting in the not-too-distant future. A third game is on the way, of course, but as that series is set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, it would be easy for an older Cal to make his presence felt in, say, the "Mandoverse," for example.
According to Daniel Richtman (via SFFGazette.com), Lucasfilm does finally have firm plans to bring Cal into a live-action Star Wars project, though there's no word on which one that will be.
The Mandalorian and Grogu would be a fitting place to introduce the Jedi to audiences, especially with Dave Filoni still plotting an epic crossover event likely adapting the popular Heir to the Empire series of Expanded Universe novels.
In an ideal world, Luke Skywalker would be front and centre in that story, but it's hard to imagine Star Wars fans complaining if Cal is the one who teams up with Din Djarin, Grogu, and Ahsoka Tano. He'll need to be established before then, of course, with whatever happens in the third and final game also taken into account.
Nothing is official as we write this and it does somewhat feel like a regurgitation of a familiar rumour. Still, if we're one step closer to seeing Cal in live-action, then it's a step in the right direction for this Galaxy Far, Far Away.
"I've seen a lot of chatter online about that. [Laughs] It could be really interesting," Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy previously said when she was asked about a live-action debut for Cal Kestis. "It's not something that's front and center right at the moment, but what's interesting in the company that we do is that everybody across all these different lines of business, we all talk to one another."
"That often doesn't happen in situations like this, but because so many of the people at Lucasfilm, are used to working together, we're very transparent about what the storytelling is that's going on — whether it's in the streaming space or the movie space, or books, animation games, whatever it is. Eventually, it'll be some kind of immersive entertainment."
"There are many things we talk about just in terms of how we use technology with ILM inside the company," Kennedy continued. "So this constant cross-pollination of ideas to determine just exactly what stories move into the movie space, what stories move into the TV space — you never know, because the creative process is very similar in all of those different spaces."
"And so you don't have a crystal ball. You see what works, and then if it does, you draw from that."
Do you think Cal should be a priority for Lucasfilm, whether it be on streaming or in theaters? Let us know in the comments section.