Why this fan hopes Star Wars saga can still have a happy ending
Star Wars fans don’t know whether to laugh or cry following news this week a new trilogy has been abandoned
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In news that had geeks turning their glasses misty with tears, the creators of the Game Of Thrones TV show this week announced they have stepped away from their planned Star Wars trilogy. But are fans really crying?
Or are they — well, not jumping for joy, because that’s a bit too much like PE classes but perhaps throwing pens and asthma inhalers into the air (and then fumbling the catch) with joy?
On paper this seemed like a match made in nerd heaven, the creators of the greatest fantasy TV show uniting with the greatest science fiction movie franchise.
It was the equivalent of the hottest girl in school announcing she actually hates sports stars with strong arms and jawlines and instead harbours a secret passion for prescription lenses, acne, concave chests and an encyclopaedic knowledge of deck compartments on the USS Enterprise.
But, like running barefoot across a soft lawn only to discover your dog has diarrhoea, there was something nasty lurking just out of sight.
And that was the final season of Game Of Thrones. Showrunners DB Weiss and David Benioff had shown they could turn the characters and plot of George R.R. Martin’s books into incredible television. Yet, without the framework of the books, the final season upset so many fans, about 1.8 million signed a petition demanding it be remade.
The Weiss and Benioff Star Wars films were to be without the framework of the Skywalker family, which has been at the heart of the main nine movies. Instead, these were to take the universe in a new direction.
Was that to be an exciting new galaxy or were our hopes to go up in flames like someone in the way of an angry Daenerys Targaryen?
We will never know, because they have signed an even richer deal to make shows with Netflix.
So while cash and time management is being blamed for the break-up, it does add to a worrying list of Star Wars films that have seen directors replaced or tweaked.
Josh Trank left a planned Boba Fett spin-off, Phil Lord and Chris Miller were punted from the Han Solo film for Ron Howard, Gareth Edwards didn’t oversee the reshoots on Rogue One and Rian Johnson’s planned Star Wars trilogy was put firmly on the backburner after fans disliked his Star Wars The Last Jedi.
Making a great Star Wars movie is obviously much, much harder than it looks, with fans more demanding than a sugar-obsessed preschooler.
Of course this could all end well. Weiss and Benioff could produce some amazing TV shows for Netflix and someone else comes in and gives us a stunning new look at the Star Wars universe.
As a fan of both, that’s exactly what I hope for. Yet the jury is out.
It’s like turning up at a wedding and discovering half the other guests are wearing chain mail and the band all seems to be armed with crossbows.
Now we’re just waiting to see if someone shouts: “Tywin Lannister sends his regards”, or the crossbows only shoot out a flag that says “Twang!”, the chain mail is merely made of rubber and we can all have a laugh about it.
Originally published as Why this fan hopes Star Wars saga can still have a happy ending