How Legends Can Inspire Post-‘The Rise of Skywalker’ Stories
While the Skywalker Saga is over for now, the characters who take the reins are not done just yet. Rey, Finn, Poe, and Rose still have a chance to take on many adventures. What does their future look like though? What kind of adventures can this new group of heroes have? In many ways, the sky is the limit for them. They can really be anything. So let us take a look at another time not so long ago when a previous group of heroes had the chance to go on all sorts of adventures with limitless possibilities. That of course being characters from the original trilogy Luke, Han, and Leia in the time of the Expanded Universe.
In the old days after the Battle of Endor, there were many adventures, characters and events that the original trilogy trio had to deal with. Most of which were quite similar to where the sequel trilogy characters are at right now. A totalitarian regime had been defeated, the Emperor was presumed dead, and the galaxy must now rebuild after a war. There will be chaos, misunderstandings, and a lot of reconciliation to take place. What would those stories look like? Well in Star Wars Expanded Universe, now known as Legends, there were a lot of many great ways of presenting the continuing adventures of a trilogy group. The original trilogy heroes had many smaller side adventures, battling imperial warlords, ancient Sith ghosts, or sometimes pirates and criminal gangs. These were not the great stories of the saga and they did not have to be. Sometimes after a large scale story, a smaller side quest can be a good change of pace.
One thing that Rey will have in common with early Legends Luke, of course, will be setting up a Jedi Order. Books such as the Young Jedi Knights series and the Jedi Academy Trilogy would be good places to look for inspiration. In these series, Luke was building his Jedi Order. He encountered various colorful characters as he set up his Jedi temple and academy on Yavin IV. While it seems Rey's first apprentice could be Finn, at least according to the Lego Holiday Special, she will need more Jedi to join her ranks. It will be fun and interesting to see Rey going on similar journey, discovering ancient Jedi texts, battling old dark side ghosts, and just having adventures with her Jedi students. On the other hand, what would all the non-Force users do?
With Patty Jenkins' Rogue Squadron movie coming out soon, there has been much speculation as to it being a post-The Rise of Skywalker story. Rogue Squadron can take a lot of inspiration from the books, and move them into a new era. Instead of events happening after Battle of Endor, it will now be after Battle of Exegol. Just like Endor, the galaxy is now in a state of flux with the fall of the Emperor and Imperial Remnants scattered throughout the universe. While Rise of Skywalker showed a galaxy successfully winning against the First Order, that does not mean all of the First Order forces are gone. They were a massive military force, and their soldiers are still out there somewhere, and still loyal to the New Order ideology. Obviously Jenkins has mentioned that she has taken inspiration from the X-Wing books. Perhaps we will see those stories being recreated in the time period after The Rise of Skywalker.
There is always some truth in Legends, and even before Rise of Skywalker, elements of the Expanded Universe have been coming into play. We have already seen a Dark Side Solo child, and Palpatine’s return in a clone body. Perhaps we will see more stories from Legends. Instead of those adventures belonging to Luke, Han and Leia, they will go to Rey, Finn, Poe, and Rose, along with the other sequel era characters who deserve all the stories in the world.
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Source: Dork Side of the Force