Tonight, Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi releases in many theaters for the mass consumer to enjoy. As this third trilogy now has only one other film remaining, Disney is already looking towards the future of the franchise. In fact, even though The Last Jedi’s director Rian Johnson has yet to see the impending success of his movie, Disney has already signed him on to head the next trilogy of movies in the series.
Speaking to Mashable in an interview, Johnson revealed that he will be taking Star Wars in a new direction, but not one that includes the Old Republic era. This period of time set thousands of years before the prequel trilogy is ripe with opportunity and potential for a new direction, so I’m here to say why I think there should be a movie set in the Knights of the Old Republic time period.
Limitless Possibilities
Johnson’s main point for not telling a story set in the Old Republic is because it’s something we already know, but that isn’t completely the case. With Disney buying Lucasfilm and branding games like Knights of the Old Republic as ‘Legends’, there is the chance to start fresh in the time period.
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This certainly wouldn’t be the first time this is happened, as Star Wars Rebels brought back beloved Imperial Admiral Thrawn in animated form, disregarding his Legends storyline but still appreciating his overall character. The same could be done for the Old Republic, keeping the overall theme but wiping the slate clean of prior obligations to main characters like Darth Revan, Bastilla, and the like.
Jedi Versus Sith Unlike Ever Before
The one key element that a Knights of the Old Republic should retain is the state of the galaxy during this tumultuous period. The Jedi and Sith wage war in a way that has never been seen before or replicated since. Forget the 10,000 Jedi that were peacekeepers during the prequels, the Old Republic had thousands upon thousands of both Jedi and Sith duking it out across the entire galaxy.
Remember the opening scene of BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic? Your ship is under attack and you quickly come upon a Jedi and Sith dueling against each other in a hallway. That alone was a cool moment, but then you realize that that is commonplace during this era. A KOTOR film could capture that essence, showcasing countless Jedi and Sith battling it out like never before.
It is a fan’s wet dream to see such a strong time for the Force, one we will probably never see otherwise. At this point in the timeline of The Last Jedi, the Jedi are, well, at their last and the Sith are no different. Though the Rule of Two introduced by Darth Bane is interesting lore-wise, it does hinder such massive open war between the two sides from ever happening again.
For those that don’t know, there can only be really two Sith at once now: a master and their apprentice. Though that has been bent ever so slightly to include a few extra dark side users in the past, there is no way to see it on the scale that it was in the Old Republic.
It is a shame for it to remain locked behind a few games when there is still so much more that could be done like explaining if the ‘old’ part of the Republic is simply because of its age or if there was a time it fell and then was reborn again as we saw it in the prequels. Heck, I’d settle for Knights of the Old Republic to the be the setting for the new Star Wars TV show, but it would lack the budget necessary to make this dream a reality. What do you think?
