Credit: LucasfilmLucasfilm Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni is rewriting Star Wars history with his historic changes to the franchise’s big stormtrooper problem–a problem that George Lucas created in the original trilogy.
In 1977, director George Lucas humbly revealed his new galaxy far, far away. When Star Wars hit movie theaters, it began a never-before-seen phenomenon and established one of the most popular franchises in the world.
Following Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope, as it was renamed, George Lucas helmed its two sequels: Star Wars: The Episode Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi (1983). Now known as the original trilogy and the beginnings of the Skywalker Saga, Lucas returned to the franchise with the prequels before selling Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012.
While the Star Wars franchise is a beloved one, it is not without its flaws and criticisms. When the prequel trilogy was released, commencing with Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace (1999), fans quickly dissected the new entry, calling out certain plot points and characters like Jar Jar Binks.
However, one problem has always stayed consistent with Star Wars, and that is the poor aim and quick deaths of the Galactic Empire’s stormtroopers. This has become somewhat of a comical aspect of the space opera, but it is worth noting that the Empire’s army has such a weak shot.
That said, Lucas’s lackluster stormtroopers–the origins of which have just been explored in Dave Filoni’s The Bad Batch–were upgraded last year and, looking ahead, will reappear in an upcoming major movie event.
Known for generating popular and fan-favorite stories, Dave Filoni is attributed to the success of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and the recent Disney+ live-action shows. Most recently, Filoni created Star Wars: Ahsoka, the third installment in Disney’s Mando-Verse, following The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.
Rosario Dawson made her live-action Ahsoka debut in the second season of The Mandalorian, “Chapter 13: The Jedi.” Dawson replaced Ashley Eckstein as Anakin Skywalker’s former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano in the live-action universe; Eckstein voiced the character in Star Wars‘ animated pursuits.
What Ahsoka did aside from regrouping the Ghost crew from Rebels was establish the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and how he made it back to the galaxy with the help of the Nightsisters. After being locked away in an alternate galaxy on the planet Peridea, Nightsister Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) orchestrated his rescue and reconnected with the Great Mothers–three Dathomirian Nightsisters.
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Upon their attack on Thrawn’s citadel, Ahsoka, Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), and Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) faced off against the Admiral’s night troopers, and while they went down almost as quickly as the stormtroopers from days of old, they got back up again thanks to the magic of the Great Mothers.
This resurrection of the stormtroopers is seemingly a comment on the fact they have been so easy to kill in past movies and signals a new era for the soldiers. Sometime in the future, Dave Filoni will helm a Mando-Verse crossover movie, now known colloquially as Heir to the Empire.
Filoni’s film was announced at last year’s Star Wars Celebration Europe, where Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy presented three new movies in the works from the studio. Joining Filoni’s New Republic era movie will be James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s New Jedi Order films.
Mangold’s is said to explore the origins of the Force and the very first Jedi–something similar to D.B. Weiss and David Benioff’s original First Jedi pitch. Obaid-Chinoy will tackle the events after the polarizing sequel trilogy and bring back Daisy Ridley’s Rey Skywalker to lead the new wave of Jedi younglings.
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The Nightsisters have long been part of the Star Wars canon, first appearing in the canon Clone Wars series. Their presence in the franchise is ever present, too, as both Ahsoka and the latest season of The Bad Batch–which brought back Asajj Ventress (Nika Futterman)–included the magical characters of Dathomir.
If Filoni takes his undead stormtroopers to the big screen with his Heir to the Empire movie, it will usher in a new wave of stormtrooper critique and will rewrite the Star Wars canon as featuring soldiers who take just a bit longer to die.
Do you think the undead stormtroopers are a good addition to the franchise? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!