Star Wars Could Be Falling Into The Marvel Trap

Major motion picture franchises have enhanced their brand with TV shows for decades. Disney didn’t invent the technique, but they are running it into the ground. The House of Mouse owns two of the most financially successful film franchises, and their current strategy involves milking them for streaming shows. Marvel has pumped out a dozen “miniseries” that could have been entertaining films, and Star Wars has jumped on the same bandwagon.

Film franchises have increasingly become brands. Fans see Star Wars on merchandise more than linear time would allow them to watch the movies. Studios love this development. If the world sees the art they love as indistinguishable from any other logo, any question about the commodification of stories goes out the window. The problem starts with action figures and winds around until it reaches the art.

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There hasn’t been a Star Wars movie in 4 years

The sequel trilogy put the fear of god in Disney. The studio is notoriously risk-averse. One would think having access to brand names that guarantee enormous box-office returns would encourage big plays, but massive companies like Disney have to make all the money in the world, or else they feel they’ve lost their game. Everyone and their mom would tell them how easy it would be to pay talented filmmakers to create strange, compelling entries in their IP with reasonable budgets and rake in the profits. They don’t want to make several movies that each make some money. They want all the rewards with none of the risk. After Rise of Skywalker, the third most expensive film ever made, only brought in $150 million in estimated net gains, Disney has shied away from the box office. However, humanity hasn’t received a break from Star Wars.

But there have been numerous shows.

Without counting the animated shows, which may as well take place in a separate universe, there have been five live-action Star Wars series on Disney+. Aside from most of the first season of The Mandalorian, each of these aired after the release of The Rise of Skywalker. The Mandalorian is the only series centered on an original character. Returning favorites Boba Fett and Obi-Wan enjoy more direct spotlights. Andor resurrects a minor figure from Rogue One and gives him the best presentation of any Star Wars project since the turn of the millennium. Watching the entire slate of Disney+ programming would take around 39 and a half hours. People are abandoning Marvel for hiding too much of their shared narrative behind shows demanding long time commitments. Star Wars must avoid that problem.

Future Star Wars movies need to stand on their own

Fans have speculated that the next Star Wars trilogy could feature or even star Grogu of The Mandalorian fame. Baby Yoda is unquestionably their most popular character at the moment. He’s the co-star of one of the best Star Wars shows, a feat of practical effects work, a new version of an old fan favorite, and the cutest thing in the galaxy far, far away. Building a film franchise around him because people love him in The Mandalorian is precisely the sort of risk-averse, short-sided decision Disney could fall into. The key to moving the franchise forward is to imagine new destinations it can explore. Move away from the past, leave the Skywalker family behind, and avoid tying into the streaming shows at all costs.

Some of the Disney+ Star Wars shows are excellent. Andor is unquestionably the finest piece of media to come out of the franchise in a generation. The Mandalorian borrows from earlier entries but delivers a new story with lovable characters. Star Wars has to find new corners of the galaxy and new icons to explore them. Leave the shows where they are and return this franchise to its original medium. Star Wars can have both, but only if they allow them to exist separately.

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