The Banishment Of Bothans
Image Source: Tutok News
“Many Bothans died to bring us this information,” said Mon Mothma of this enigmatic and as-yet-unseen alien species. Mon Mothma, leader of the Rebel Alliance, made this statement during the planning of the Rebel Alliance’s assault on the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi regarding the pivotal role they played in obtaining vital information for the Rebellion. There has been no on-screen appearance of the Bothans in the post-Disney Lucasfilm acquisition era Star Wars universe.
Canon
Despite that famous bit of dialogue, we have yet to see an actual Bothan presented on-screen. Bothans have had some additional mentions in Canon. These include The Battle of Bothuwui (in Bothan space), which was featured in the first season of The Clone Wars (Downfall of a Droid/Duel of the Droids), and a second (unseen) battle in Bothan space which occurred later during the Clone Wars. They have been mentioned in a few Canon novels, including Tarkin, and other licensed Star Wars media. The situation is even more confusing because Star Wars: Resistance and some other recent Star Wars media have utilized their appearance as described in Legends media for Canon characters. However, these characters have not been canonically confirmed as Bothans.
RELATED:
Legends
Image Source: Wookieepedia
In Legends, Bothans have been well-established and have made numerous appearances as characters in Star Wars novels, comics, games, etc., through 2012. Their species’ primary asset was intelligence gathering, hence their skillfulness in obtaining information about the second Death Star, featured in the Shadows of the Empire multimedia project. Their appearance was later firmly established in accompanying visual materials as leonine humanoids. The most prominent Bothan character to appear in Legends was Borsk Fey’lya. Fey’lya was introduced in Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire, as a scheming New Republic Council member who frequently clashed with Leia, and attempted to discredit Admiral Ackbar to further his political ambitions.
Fey’lya later ascended to the role of Chief-of-State of the New Republic and, although he was slow to respond to the threat of the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong invaders and harbored some antagonism to Luke Skywalker’s New Jedi Order, he protected the Jedi Order from the Jedi-hating Vong. He also martyred himself to take out several thousand Vong warriors during their invasion of Coruscant (New Jedi Order series). Bothans later joined the Correllian-led Confederation, opposing the Galactic Alliance during the Second Galactic Civil War (Legacy of the Force book series).
With the tendency of Star Wars to introduce, or in this case, re-introduce races and characters into Canon since 2012, the Bothans’ apparent banishment from on-screen appearances, animated or otherwise, as well as their lack of canonical visual appearance has been particularly perplexing given their critical role in the destruction of the second Death Star and their significant presence in Legends. However, little to no light has been shed on their lack of visual appearances in Star Wars Canon. Given the tendency of Lucasfilm to flesh out all of their established characters, species, etc., and also to play it close to their vest until they are prepared to do so, the most probable explanation is that Lucasfilm is not ready to create any characters and/or use them in any meaningful way yet.
If Lucasfilm wants a suggestion for a Star Wars project, a live-action/animated story about their heroic efforts to get information for the Rebel Alliance about the second Death Star, a la Rogue One, would be amazing. They could also be featured in some capacity in any number of the current New Republic-era Star Wars series such as The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, or Skeleton Crew. The Lucasfilm Story Group may have even decided to introduce Bothans in any of these series and/or other yet-to-be-released projects. In which case, Star Wars fans who want to see Bothans will just have to do what we have already been doing: wait and hope.
READ NEXT:
Source(s): Screen Rant, Wookieepedia, Looper
Latest News
Featured
