Solo: A Star Wars Story was officially announced about three years ago
although rumors of the project could be heard as far back as 2012.
Ever since that announcement, fan reactions have been somewhat mixed and I totally include myself in that
because this wasn't a story I was particularly hoping we'd get to see
and I don't want Lucasfilm to fall into the habit of character centric origin story after character centric origin story.
I kind of prefer concepts more like Rogue One that surround events and not people.
But that said, the more I've seen of the movie, the more trailers and footage that have been released,
the more I've just heard about the story,
my tune has changed significantly
and I'm now very excited to see this film
and I think a lot of other fans are feeling similarly.
But I still keep seeing this one phrase pop up over and over and it's something along the lines of
who asked for this movie to be made?
The fans didn't want this movie.
Why is it happening?
Something like that.
And I wanted to address that today, not to call those people out
but actually to hopefully make them feel a little better because I did feel like that at one point
and I hope that these people can feel a little more comfortable moving forward.
I mentioned this on my Twitter last week
but the idea that Lucasfilm should only make movies that fans are asking for is silly to me.
Rogue One is a movie that nobody asked for and look how that turned out.
In fact, most of my favorite movies, books, TV shows and video games are all stories
I never even would have thought to ask for.
I remember when they announced they were doing a Doctor Aphra comic series that would be ongoing,
I was shocked and like many people reacting to Han I was like
there are so many other stories that I would rather see than this brand new character.
Why are we exploring her story?
But now, nineteen issues in, I love that comic
and I look forward to it every month.
The idea of using an archaeologist to explore ancient Star Wars history is inspired.
The main character is great and it's probably just the most creative comic series they have going right now.
Now I do think that there are very valid reasons to not be excited for Solo.
I don't want people thinking I'm sitting here saying
if you're not excited for Solo then you're not a real Star Wars fan
because that's not true.
You might just hate the character of Han Solo and have zero interest in a whole movie just about him.
I totally understand that reasoning. But when people say nobody asked for this movie,
I think what they're trying to say is kind of what I was saying about Doctor Aphra
and that is that there are other stories that I would rather see and I wish that they were prioritized.
And while I do understand that, just because there are other stories that we want,
it doesn't mean that the story we're getting is going to be bad.
Just like Doctor Aphra proved to me.
A Kenobi movie or Old Republic stories are talked about a lot.
And I agree. I would love to see those movies too.
But just keep in mind that Solo's quality is not dependent upon whether or not it was a story we asked for.
I also see a lot of people accusing Disney of trying to cash in on the Solo name or something
as if they're solely responsible for fan disappointment.
And here is where I think the whole "nobody asked for this" argument completely falls apart.
Because George Lucas asked for this movie.
Before he sold Lucasfilm to Disney, he hired Lawrence Kasdan to write the script.
So the creator of the entire franchise and the guy that wrote most of the Han Solo character as we know him
both wanted to see this movie made.
Kasdan was temporarily taken off the project to write The Force Awakens.
And then when that script was done he returned to Solo.
So this movie went into development well before we even knew we were getting more Star Wars movies.
And now part of me kind of wonders like what if George Lucas
never sold Lucasfilm to Disney
and in 2015 he just announced all of a sudden that we're gonna get a new Star Wars movie all about Han Solo.
I think people would have been so shocked and grateful just for the chance to revisit the universe on the big screen.
It probably would have had the same concerns like the recasting of the character.
But I think a lot of the "nobody asked for this" talk would have disappeared.
Like I said, there are valid reasons to not be excited about Solo.
But the idea that we as fans should have final say on the future of the franchise is just not realistic.
Because no two fans want the exact same things.
I also think it's a little bit presumptuous to claim that Lucasfilm doesn't listen to the fans at all.
When Disney announced that they bought Lucasfilm we knew pretty much immediately
we'd be getting episodes 7, 8 & 9 and two standalone movies.
And those all went into development like right away.
So we're still kind of in that zone and we're going to be there until Episode 9 next year.
So if Lucasfilm wants to listen to fan expectations - I'm not saying that they should - but if they want to, they can't really do it until that point.
Now, we already know that we're getting a new trilogy from Rian Johnson.
We're getting a new series of movies from Benioff and Weiss and a live-action TV series from Jon Favreau.
Those stories very well could be Kenobi or The Old Republic stories and we just don't know.
All I'm trying to say is be patient
because we're still in the very early days of the Disney era.
I often compare Star Wars to the MCU and I think the universes are very different
but from the perspective of a casual movie going fan, there are some similarities.
I am a very casual Marvel fan.
I don't read the comics, pretty much everything I know about the universe is from the movies.
Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Incredible Hulk
or at least characters that I recognize.
And that's what Marvel had to do in its early days
was lean on those marketable characters to get casual fans like me interested.
Then once they had my trust
could they dive into Guardians of the Galaxy with their talking trees and raccoons.
And by the way, I don't recall the Marvel fandom clamoring for a Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
I think that they were more surprised and excited to live in a world where that was even possible.
Also, and now we're getting a bit into my opinion here,
but phase one of the MCU I don't think is all that good outside of Iron Man 1 and Avengers 1.
The rest of them I think are good, not great.
I don't think the MCU really hit their stride until movies like Guardians of the Galaxy
and The Winter Soldier and then most of Phase Three.
My point here is that we are still in Phase One of this new Star Wars era.
Lucasfilm should lean on more marketable ideas and characters right now
before they can get into the more obscure stuff.
Han Solo is instantly more recognizable than anything in the Old Republic.
Which, to a casual fan right now...
All of that stuff would be brand new and potentially confusing and off-putting.
I also think that an adventure heist western movie is an easier sell than Kenobi which in my mind
would be smaller, more intimate and personal but I don't really know what that movie would be like.
I'm just guessing.
My point is be patient.
We know that the new Johnson trilogy and that the Benioff and Weiss series,
we know that stuff is going to be completely separate from the Skywalker saga.
We are getting to brand new stuff
and I hope it's kind of like the weirder more obscure stuff.
Because to me I think that would be very liberating.
But if you look at the MCU, for example, they didn't immediately dive into all of that obscure stuff.
They kind of had to make the Marvel movies more mainstream
before they could and now they can pretty much do anything.
And I think the Star Wars model is going to follow suit to a degree.
I do want to say that I understand diehard Legends fans frustration with the situation
because the Star Wars movies aren't new adaptations of old stories like the MCU is.
We are pretty much rebuilding the new canon from scratch
and we used to have a bunch of Old Republic stories that "counted"
and now we don't, so
I understand the desire to explore that era again very quickly.
I'm just saying be patient because I'm sure it's only a matter of time.
And that's pretty much it for me.
I'm gonna hop off my soapbox.
I do want to say one more time that if you're not excited for Solo,
that's okay.
The point of this video is not to say that you should be excited for Solo and you're wrong if you're not.
That's not true.
And don't let anyone tell you otherwise
because the fact that we're getting one new movie every single year means you're going to be more excited for some than others.
So if you're just not into the concept or the character if you want to wait for reviews before buying a ticket,
that is fine.
I more just want to say the if you're frustrated in the stories that Star Wars seems to prioritize in covering first,
just be patient and try to enjoy the ride along the way.
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As always, thanks for watching, and may the Force be with you.