For years, Star Wars fans have dreamed of seeing some of the saga's many canceled projects,
from the Underworld TV series to George Lucas' sequel trilogy.
Would they be just as excited for a droid spin-off or an Ewok video game, though?
We'll let you decide...
James Mangold's Boba Fett movie could be the greatest loss the Star Wars fandom will ever
suffer.
The celebrated director and Academy Award-nominated writer was the man who delivered the superb
final chapter in Wolverine's cinematic story with Logan — and there can be no doubt that
he would have brought a fantastic Boba Fett story to the screen.
Mangold proved with both Logan and 3:10 to Yuma that he can make modern westerns with
equal parts brutal action and thematic heft.
While The Mandalorian has certainly offered fans a more western-inspired taste of the
Star Wars universe, a feature would have allowed Mangold to flesh out a more epic story.
This movie might even have been the film that brought the franchise back into the best screenplay
category at the Oscars, given Mangold's previous historic nomination for Logan.
Of course, there's no way to know for sure — but that doesn't make this particular
loss any less painful.
A Wookiee-focused movie was an idea that George Lucas came up with when initially developing
Star Wars; somewhat disastrously, this idea eventually led to the Star Wars Holiday Special.
"Whip whip stir, stir, whip, stir, whip whip whip stir waaaaah!"
But with the right script and a creative director, this could be something far superior to that
particular outing.
Lucas' original idea was a film that didn't focus on Chewbacca, but instead allowed for
a more ethnographic study of Wookiees.
No one knows exactly what the story would have been, but the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk
[has a significant history of occupations and uprisings that would lend itself perfectly
to a Wookiee-focused story.
The movie would likely dive into their culture while also offering the classic "rebels vs.
oppressors" storyline that's such a staple of the Star Wars saga.
And based on the battle on Kashyyyk in Revenge of the Sith, it probably would have looked
great too.
Of course, you've got to consider the fact that Wookiees only speak in unintelligible
growls.
While this may seem like a problem, it's also an opportunity for something really exciting
and somewhat avant garde.
A lack of spoken dialogue has driven some fascinating movies, such as 2014's The Tribe,
in which the character's only speak in Ukrainian sign language.
Doing something similar with the Wookiees could have been a huge success or a terrible
failure… but it would have been fascinating either way.
A droid-only movie was another concept for a one-off film that Lucas had in the '70s
— one that also could have developed into something truly special for the franchise.
The obvious reference point for this kind of thing is Wall-E, which proved that you
can tell a story that focused on robots and still be engaging and emotionally impactful.
The major differences, of course, are that Lucas envisioned a movie with no human characters
at all, as well as the fact that many droids can speak in languages that viewers can understand.
While the film would not have made room for any human characters, it would have allowed
for comprehensible dialogue between the droids.
Like the Wookiee-focused movie, the idea here was not to extend the stories of droids that
viewers knew already, but to tell an entirely separate story that explored how droids interact
with one another when other lifeforms aren't around.
Considering audiences have only been given glimpses of this kind of thing in existing
films, it's likely that many fans would have clamored at the chance to see a little more.
Star Wars: Underworld was a live action TV series that was going to take fans into the
murky depths of the Star Wars universe.
The show promised to be a more adult take on the saga, offering up fresh and exciting
stories that weren't solely focused on the Skywalker clan.
It would have taken place between the end of Revenge of the Sith and the beginning of
A New Hope and explored the dark underbelly of Coruscant.
"You wanna buy some death sticks?"
"You don't want to sell me death sticks."
"I don't want to sell you death sticks."
"You want to go home and rethink your life."
"I want to go home and rethink my life."
The idea this time, however, was to offer something much more morally ambiguous and
narratively complex than the films themselves.
The small screen format and long form structure of television storytelling would have allowed
for more dialogue and character driven stories.
The creators' ambitions for the show were impressive, too, with frequent Lucas collaborator
Rick McCallum telling SFX Magazine:
"The shows we aspire to are The Sopranos, The Wire, Battlestar Galactica, Deadwood,
all of that group."
While Disney has now moved Star Wars into the world of prestige TV with The Mandalorian,
that show still feels pretty PG when compared with the shows McCallum mentioned.
For now, we can hope that the fact that The Mandalorian's runaway success might be a source
of hope for Underworld's future.
George Lucas' sequel trilogy would have been very different from the one Disney ended up
producing.
As revealed by Lucas in interviews for the book The Star Wars Archives, arguably the
most exciting aspect of his trilogy ideas were the villains.
Lucas' big bads would have been Darth Maul and his new apprentice, the Twi'lekDarth Talon.
In these movies, Maul's power would not have been governmental, but instead criminal.
Lucas envisioned a power vacuum after the fall of the Empire that would have been filled
by Maul, who would have united the criminal world and become "the godfather of crime in
the universe."
The films also would have placed Leia at the heart of the story, working to combat Maul's
influence in the galaxy and rebuild the Republic.
Meanwhile, Luke would have been attempting to rebuild the Jedi Order from the remaining
Jedi who survived Order 66, finding him on a mission to locate potential Jedi throughout
the galaxy.
The saga would then reveal that it's actually Leia who is "the chosen one," as she is the
one who brings harmony to the galaxy through the creation of a true republic.
It's almost certain we'll never get to see these stories play out now that we already
have a sequel trilogy, but with DC and the MCU both opening multiverses, what's to stop
Star Wars from joining the fun?
Thanks to the announcement that Lucasfilm Games are remaking the 2003 classic RPG Knights
of the Old Republic, there have been rumors abound regarding the long-lost Knights of
the Old Republic III.
Sadly, nothing is yet concrete, and there's no way to know what the game might look like,
given that it's been more than 15 years since the last installment.
But according to Chris Avellone, lead designer and writer on Knights of the Old Republic
II, there was always an idea for a third game.
According to him, the story would have focused on an ancient and even more evil group of
Sith.
Of course, this won't come as a surprise to fans of the Old Republic games, considering
the second installment teases a hidden cabal of "True Sith" on more than one occasion.
Certainly, one of the most exciting aspects of the third game would be unraveling the
mysteries of these hugely powerful beings, each of whom was to be given a unique origin
story.
Sadly, no one can be sure whether these ideas will be a part of Knights of the Old Republic
III even if it does one day appear, but that won't stop fans from dreaming.
Star Wars 1313 seems like it would have been the video game equivalent of Underworld, with
the game even apparently aiming for an M rating.
Players would have controlled Boba Fett as he traversed the 1313th level of Coruscant
and unraveled a massive conspiracy.
Like Underworld, the game would have been more adult-oriented by virtue of its brutal
violence — as well as a more complex, character-oriented story.
Like the canceled Boba Fett movie, the game would also have been the first in its medium
to focus solely on the legendary bounty hunter, as opposed to the many games in which he takes
a more sidelined role.
But unlike the movie, which many thought would be more of a western story, 1313 was to be
an urban crime story, something resembling film noir and mafia stories more than any
western.
At this point, however, it seems that nobody will ever see this game in any form, which
is certainly a real loss to the franchise.
An animated comedy developed by the creators of Robot Chicken, Star Wars: Detours actually
has 39 completed episodes.
Apparently, though, it didn't quite fit with what Disney had in mind for the franchise
when they bought it.
That might seem surprising, given the huge success of the Star Wars Robot Chicken sketches
among fans.
Clearly George Lucas was willing to let people make jokes about his beloved franchise, and
the fans would have loved it too, considering the trailer makes it clear that the show is
stuffed with all kinds of references, easter eggs, and clever jokes.
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Nobody's talking to you, trash can."
It also seems as though Detours would have been a great way to give more screen time
to characters who only appear briefly in the movies — such as Dexter Jettster, who, based
on the trailer, seems to have been a main character on the show.
While co-creator Seth Green has said that there "isn't an interest" in releasing the
show anymore, fans can still hope that Detours will eventually see the light of day.
Do it for Dexter, Disney.
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – Ewok Adventure was one of two video games developed for release
alongside Return of the Jedi.
For some reason, though, only its sibling, Death Star Battle, ever made its way to Ataris.
Of course, Ewok Adventure wouldn't be developed for the Atari today, but the idea of playing
an entire game as an Ewok is undeniably appealing — whether the concept is retooled for something
grander or stays as little more than a mobile game.
For example, it's pretty easy to imagine this concept being retooled into something like
Little Big Planet, giving players the tools to create maps that include a variety of traps
and contraptions like those the Ewoks create in Return of the Jedi.
This could also bring a community aspect to the game that would allow players to share
their creations and fight together against the invading Empire.
Alternatively, it's very easy to imagine that the original game would be given a fresher
look while remaining little more than a time-sink mobile game.
Either way, everyone loves Ewoks, and a video game centering Endor's vicious little teddy
bears would surely put smiles on a lot of faces.
Battle of the Sith Lords was a Star Wars video game that would have allowed players to take
on the role of a young Darth Maul as he grows into a more powerful Sith Lord — albeit
not entirely of his own volition.
In fact, the game would have delved into how traumatizing the training of a young Sith
Lord can be, with Maul being kidnapped by Palpatine as a child and tortured into taking
on the role of his apprentice.
Sadly, the development of the game ran into timeline and lore issues with the franchise's
plans to bring Maul back as a significant character in the Clone Wars animated TV show.
Once that happened, the game development team was left with too little information to work
from while also being locked into new canonical facts about Maul's life.
Eventually, after significant development and a number of shifts in the game's trajectory,
the game was canceled.
This isn't only a shame because the game would have further developed the story of a beloved
character, though that is also true.
But it's also a loss because Battle of the Sith Lords could have been one of the franchise's
most significant moves into the realm of horror — with a key aspect of the game being the
way that Maul used his own fear to manipulate the fears of others.
Sounds pretty cool, don't you think?
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