When Disney bought Lucasfilm and announced the Sequel Trilogy, it was more-or-less a given that the Expanded Universe was going to die (or at least the post-Jedi EU). So when it was officially announced that the entire EU would become "Legend", it wasn't a surprise. But it was sad. A lot of us Star Wars fans were upset. We grew up with our comics, novels, role-playing games, and short stories. In middle school I spent innumerable hours reading about the adventures of Mara Jade, the Solo kids (Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin), Tenel Ka, Ben Skywalker, and many others. None of those stories seemed to matter anymore. Those characters didn't exist, and their adventures never took place.
It's been a few years and I've mostly gotten over the change in events (mostly- it's weird thinking of Luke with anyone but Mara). But I've come to realize the actual events - the plots of the books - weren't the important part of the EU. I don't even remember half of them. A large portion of the the ones I do were bad. The real thing we lost was the incredible amount of detail about the Galaxy.
Through the EU you could learn about dozens of different worlds and cultures.
You could learn that there are all sorts of Force traditions beyond the black & white, Jedi & Sith that you see in the films.
You could learn about the politics and social structures of the Republics and the Empire.
You could study the rather amazing range of technology.
You could gain more understanding of both the main characters and background ones.
Much of this was lost with the de-canonization. To use an example, the Bothans. Here's the Wookieepedia entry for the current, cannon understanding of the Bothans:
And here's the Legends Wookieepedia entry for the Bothans:
That is one example. The same thing is repeated for nearly all of the places, characters, species, and items in the Star Wars Galaxy.
A few things are happening to help fill in all the gaps again...
The Clone Wars, even before Disney, used many elements from the old EU, and expanded beyond them. Rebels continues this. All the new books and comics contribute to the new canon, and, of course, the new films are too. But I have to wonder whether the new Star Wars Land will help as well. Will it be considered canon?
The old Star Tours was considered canon, though it did require the creation of a third death star. Elements from the ride showed up in a few different places in the old EU, including the Timothy Zahn novel Specter of the Past. Though not the events in the ride, the existence of a tourism company named "Star Tours" remained canon during the Disney takeover thanks to it's being on The Clone Wars. RX pilot droids became re-canonized with an episode of Rebels. No one seems to care whether the new Star Tours is canon, but certainly parts of it are not: Yoda wouldn't be visibly aiding the Rebel Alliance, and Finn wouldn't have even been born yet.
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| RX pilot in Rebels. Taken from Wookieepedia. |
The more I learn about the new Star Wars land coming to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, the more it seems that it could be a large contributor to the new canon. Far moreso than Star Tours. Star Tours introduced a tourism company, one new vehicle (the StarSpeeder), and two new types of droids (RX and G2 droids). If Star Wars land reaches the level of detail of the Africa and Asia in the Animal Kingdom, Buena Vista Street in California Adventure, or, hell, even Tomorrowland '94 in the Magic Kingdom (and there's no reason why it wouldn't), then we could see many different new characters, droids, aliens, organizations, companies, pieces of tech, etc. Besides actual events or plot, Star Wars land could contribute almost as much to canon as a new movie.
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| Belongs to Disney/Lucasfilm |
That is, if it's considered canon in the first place. Some bending will be necessary, of course. It would be foolish of Disney to open a Star Wars land without a character meet and greet, no matter how unrealistic that would be. Same with unrealistic merchandise, food, etc. However, if Disney is careful with the content of the attractions themselves and with the detail they'll throw all over the land, parts could certainly enter the new EU.
Part of that means very few obvious in-jokes and references within the land. It won't work if Disney puts a reference to a well-known line, scene, or joke from the films every two feet. The land can't be themed to Star Wars, it has to be Star Wars. Luckily it looks like Disney is moving in that direction. According to the MiceAge Disneyland Rumor Update from the 4th of October 2016:
WDI wants to leapfrog the competition at Universal Studios by creating an immersive Star Wars environment that is more akin to Renaissance Faire cosplay than a theme park land. Shops and dining would be hyper-themed and operated like elaborate dinner theaters and living history museums.
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| Belongs to Disney/Lucasfilm |
I'm still upset that Disney decided to squeeze Star Wars land in the back of Frontierland, rather than wait to use 3rd gate land or keep the expansion in Disney World, where it is needed most. (Honestly, instead of California, Star Wars land would've been an excellent addition to the Walt Disney Studios park in Paris, which is struggling even more than it's Floridian counterpart).
However, the more time passes, the more I'm excited to step foot inside the world of Star Wars, and the more excited I am to see what the new land contributes to the Galaxy Far, Far Away.
