‘Star Wars’ Reveals Why The First Order Didn't Blow Up Coruscant In ‘The Force Awakens’
Coruscant is an ecumenopolis planet (where the cities have merged into one city across the whole planet) located in the Core Worlds quadrant region of the Star Wars universe. The first mention of Coruscant was in 1991 in the Timothy Zahn novel Heir To The Empire, but it didn’t make its screen debut until 1997 when it appeared at the end of the Return Of The Jedi special edition.
After this, Coruscant became a prevalent feature in all the prequel trilogy movies, with it being the center of government for the Republic and then the Galactic Empire. Fast forward to the sequel trilogy and The Force Awakens, and we see the First Order use Starkiller Base to destroy the ‘illegitimate’ government of the New Republic.
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Lucasfilm executive, and member of the Lucasfilm Story Group, Pablo Hidalgo, was recently asked on Twitter why the First Order chose to destroy the Hosnian Prime system in The Force Awakens rather than Coruscant. Hidalgo revealed that J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot wanted to blow up Coruscant, whereas Lucasfilm tried to preserve it. Pablo Hidalgo’s tweets have since been deleted, but he commented below some of what he commented.
“Basically, BR (Bad Robot) wanted it blown up; LFL (Lucasfilm Ltd.) didn’t. Hosnian Prime was the unsatisfying middle ground. It happens. (I should say ‘some folks at’ because it’s not like companies have points of view)."
It is definitely most unusual to see a member of the Lucasfilm Story Group make a statement like that, and it is not really surprising that Pablo Hidalgo has now deleted them.
So was changing from Coruscant to Hosnian Prime really an unsatisfactory middle ground? I certainly had no issue with the New Republic making an active decision to move its government center to somewhere new. But, on the other hand, Coruscant certainly has its place in history, having represented the Republic and then transformed into the center of the Galactic Empire, with Sheev Palpatine having key leadership roles through both eras.
With the New Republic wanting to start afresh following years of conflict, I fully understand the reasoning that they would like to base themselves somewhere completely different. The New Republic wanted to take things forward into a new era and start fresh. But unfortunately, not doing so meant continuing to live in a place steeped in corruption and terror. Reliving memories of the things that Coruscant represented.
If the New Republic had decided to base themselves on Coruscant, things might have worked out differently. With Coruscant having been a centerpiece to the Galactic Empire, would the First Order have thought differently about destroying it? It is clear that the First Order longed for a return to the “order” that the Galactic Empire brought to the galaxy, and I think they would balk at even considering the option of destroying Coruscant wiping out the New Republic government.
Then again, destroying Coruscant would undoubtedly have been a statement to the galaxy. Equally, I don’t think changing course to make it Hosnian Prime really made that statement have any less of an impact. There is no doubt that the destruction of Starkiller Base in the Hosnian Prime Cataclysm sent a clear message to the galaxy.
As a fan, I think I would actually have been pretty upset to have seen a legacy planet such as Coruscant blasted to bits, but I can also see why this would also have been a brave move and why it was considered. It would certainly be interesting to hear more from Lucasfilm and Bad Robot on their decision. Still, I suspect this will never happen, and all we have now is speculation based on Pablo Hidalgo’s now-deleted tweets.
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Source(s): ScreenRant