Why Cal, And Other ‘Star Wars’ Video Game Protagonists Are So Hard To Bring To Live-action
Image Source: IGN
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, released in 2019, was an extremely well-received game, with 90% of the people who reviewed it on Steam giving it a positive review. It has won multiple awards, and it has a sequel planned for 2023. As a result, the game’s protagonist, Cal Kestis, has been an absolute lightning rod for rumors and hopes of a live-action appearance. However, many past Star Wars video game protagonists who also had a large following have struggled to make it to live-action. People had recently hoped to see Cal in either Andor or Obi-Wan Kenobi. Although it would be extremely exciting to see Cal in live-action, there would also many difficulties that people do not think about. Let’s take the time to look at some characters who starred in similar games and see why they had a problem making it into shows and movies.
Kyle Katarn Now Contradicts Canon
Image Source: Films News Feed
Released in 1995 for DOS, Dark Forces followed in the footsteps of the popular video game Doom. Kyle Katarn, who was the protagonist of both this game and its sequels, picked up quite a following. This following was enough to fuel the idea of Kyle Katarn jokes (similar to Chuck Norris jokes) and for Kyle to appear in several Legends books where he appears as a Jedi. Sounds cool, right? Why didn’t he make it?
RELATED:
Sadly, Kyle has not even appeared in Disney’s canon. He actually contradicts it. One of his most noted accomplishments was stealing the Death Star plans, a plot that is now covered in the movie Rogue One. Kyle’s second appearance, where he becomes a Jedi and fights Inquisitors, also contradicts the current canon as established by Rebels and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Dash Rendar Fits An Awkward Position
Released in 1996, Star Wars: Shadows of The Empire was a multi-media project featuring a video game, a novel, and comics. The story featured the hotshot pilot Dash Rendar as its lead protagonist. Dash was one of the many attempts to create a character similar to Han Solo. Like Han, Dash was a great pilot born on Corellia, was extremely impulsive and confident, and had a very cool smuggling ship Outrider. He helped the Rebellion against the criminal organization the Black Sun, led by crimelord Prince Xizor in a story that happened between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi while Han was stuck in carbonite. Also, unlike Kyle, Dash is actually part of canon. He has appeared in sourcebooks. His ship was in the special edition of A New Hope, and both appeared in the Unfinished Business expansion for the canon board game Star Wars: Outer Rim. Prince Xizor even has a cameo in season 7 of The Clone Wars.
Dash seems to be slowly working his way into canon, and there is a slight chance of him appearing in the upcoming Andor show. An Empire-hating smuggler would be exactly the kind of person Cassian Andor would work with. However, the peak of his popularity was in the late 90s when shows weren’t being made, and his character was too young to have been in prequel material. Most fans today don’t even know about Dash, meaning that he will likely require a few more small appearances before his role on the small screen becomes a marketable strategy.
Revan’s Story Is Too Disconnected From The Main Cast
Image Source: Wookieepedia
Okay, this was probably the guy many of you were thinking about. For the small portion who don’t know who this guy is, he was the main protagonist of the extremely popular 2003 video game Knights of The Old Republic (KOTOR). He also appeared in The Old Republic MMORPG, got his own novel, and is scheduled to reappear in the upcoming KOTOR remake (if it ever gets made). In possibly the second most well-known twist in the history of Star Wars, the original game revealed that your highly-skilled, Force-sensitive amnesia-ridden main character was, in fact, the infamous Sith Lord Revan, a character whose legacy was so great that it remained relevant for thousands of in-universe years. With all that going for him, why is there no show appearance for this legend?
Those of you who don’t know will likely be happy to hear: Revan has actually been canon since 2019. The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary explained that each legion of Sith Troopers is named after ancient Sith Lords. With the third legion being named the Revan Legion, it confirms that there was a powerful Sith named Darth Revan in the past. However, the problem with Revan is that those not familiar with the character are less likely to be interested in a story that takes place thousands of years ago, before any of the familiar characters like Yoda was even born. Sadly, until his story is teased out a lot more heavily and introduced to new fans (come on, remake) Revan’s story is unlikely to make it to television.
Galen Marek (Starkiller) Is Misunderstood By Fans
Image Source: Kotaku
Like Shadows of the Empire, The Force Unleashed was a multimedia project with other tie-in products. Starkiller took the role of Vader’s secret apprentice who was tasked with hunting down Jedi before eventually redeeming himself and inadvertently founding the Rebel Alliance. Starkiller had a lot in common with Cal. Both were in games that took place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Both fought Darth Vader in their respective games. Both have their appearances based on their voice actors. Both games had a sequel. Before getting back to Cal, what was wrong with getting Starkiller in?
Starkiller gave very little to work with for other content. He was less than 20 in his initial appearance, meaning there wasn’t much room for him to appear in something before The Force Unleashed. Having him appear afterward would also be a problem. The first game ended with his apparent death. In the second game, you play as a character who was apparently a clone of him, and whether or not he was actually a clone is a mystery teased throughout the game, and pushed onto the third game, which was canceled. He was also accused of being overpowered by people who only know of the video game’s exaggerated story and did not know of his numerous defeats and close wins in the book. Also, like Kyle, he was completely removed from the current canon.
Back To Cal
Image Source: StarWars.com
As mentioned earlier, Cal’s looks were based on his voice actor, Cameron Monaghan. This makes it easy to determine who would play him. Cameron had commented on the possibility in the past, and a BD unit similar to BD-1 appearing in The Book of Boba Fett was a much-appreciated piece of fan service. Cal also does not have the same problems of having little canon material like Kyle Katarn and Galen Malek. However, there is one large problem with Cal in live-action: his survival is spoiler material. If his appearance on a Disney+ show takes place before the Jedi: Survivor, you know he is going to survive his show. If it happens after, then he will survive the sequel game. As Starkiller had shown, having the protagonist die, or at least have an ambiguous end like Dash Rendar, won’t have the same impact. Perhaps a Cal Kestis series might be announced an ample time after the release of Jedi: Survivor, but that is not for a while down the road. Don’t give up hope, though. Cal Kestis is popular enough with fans for a show to be on the horizon.
READ NEXT:
Source(s): Steam, IMDb, IGN, ScreenRant, The Direct