Looking Back At 'Star Wars' In 2021
2021 seemed to me to be a somewhat muted year for the Star Wars franchise, with more of the major projects, like the upcoming Obi-Wan and Andor D+ series, and the third season of The Mandalorian, still in development and/or production. This, of course, does not mean that the franchise has gotten stagnant, far from it. It has continued expanding in every direction in terms of new books, comics, D+ series, and specials. This past year also saw Disney and Lucasfilm allowing Star Wars fans to rediscover some Legends content on D+.
While this article does not delve into every bit of new Star Wars content released in 2021, I do intend to highlight a few new additions (presented in no particular order) to Star Wars content now available to fans this past year. A comprehensive listing, however, can be found here.
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1. The High Republic:
This multimedia series is set approximately 200 years prior to The Phantom Menace and features the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic at the height of their expansion and exploration of the galaxy.
2. Disney rediscovers Legends:
Throughout 2021, Disney pleased several older Star Wars fans, myself included, by adding a fairly substantial amount of older Star Wars content that was reclassified as Legends (following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm) to its premier streaming platform, D+. These titles include content from the 1980's such as two standalone Ewok movies, Caravan of Courage and Battle of Endor, along with the Ewoks animated series that ran on TV around the same time. Its companion series, Droids, was also later added to the streaming platform.
Perhaps attempting to help build hype for the recent release of Book of Boba Fett, Disney added the animated short, entitled The Tale of the Faithful Wookie, to their streaming service. This short was created for the much ridiculed Star Wars Holiday Special of the late 1970s, featuring the first appearance of the fearsome bounty hunter, Boba Fett. The two-volume Gennedy Tartokovsky Clone Wars micro-series, originally released during the lead up to Revenge of the Sith, was also added to the streaming platform this year.
3. Visions:
Disney released a nine-part anime series, collectively dubbed Visions, in 2021. This series featured an assortment of (non-canonical) stories set in the Star Wars galaxy, featuring a variety of characters and animation styles. Many fans were pleased and intrigued by this project.
4. New series:
While some of the most anticipated series, such as Andor, Obi-Wan, Ashoka, and Mandalorian Season 3 spent 2021 in development and production, Star Wars fans were not entirely bereft of new Star Wars series. In May 2021, D+ launched the first season of The Clone Wars spinoff, The Bad Batch, which featured the immediate aftermath of the Clone Wars and the exploits of a unique group of renegade clones, who find themselves on the run from the newly established Empire. However, perhaps the most anticipated series, The Book of Boba Fett, finally launched at the tail end of 2021. First teased at the end of The Mandalorian Season 2, The Book of Boba Fett features the iconic bounty hunter establishing himself as Jabba The Hutt's successor on Tatooine. D+ also added a short documentary about Boba Fett, entitled Under The Helmet, as part of its Disney+ Day in November.
5. Franchise Fusion:
LEGO and Lucasfilm continued their lucrative partnership with the release of a Halloween-themed LEGO Star Wars special, dubbed Terrifying Tales, to complement last year's LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special. Lucasfilm also took advantage of Disney's recent acquisition of Twentieth Century Fox to produce the Star Wars-themed Simpsons short (or is that Simpsons-themed Star Wars short?), entitled The Force Awakens From Its Nap.
What was your favorite addition to the Star Wars franchise in 2021?
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Source(s): Wookieepedia.com