called it

I only believe in the existence of Star Wars movies once I've seen them ...

... twice.

Just watched a YouTube video (I know, I know, but bear with me) talking about how much they appear to be taking from the Zahn trilogy in the new canon - The Favloni stuff, specifically. I never read Heir to the Empire but it does seem like a retooled version of that is exactly where we're heading. And I kinda love it.

*bear

That first Thrawn trilogy is primo stuff. Highly recommend.

I’ll shit myself if they end up bringing Mara Jade in.

Even if she's not connected to Luke?

Well, in the point in the timeline they’re playing in, a Luke connection would be possible, but yeah, I’d be fine without it. She’s been a favorite for a long, long time.

Thanks for sharing all this Dime.

It was a nice surprise to wake up to

Holy shit Frederico Fellini is making a star wars movie?

I’m guessing de-aged Indy works so well in dial of destiny they may feel comfortable doing heir to the empire with younger Han, Luke, Leia, etc.

Leia would definitely be some movie magic.

It really feels like the Mando-verse stuff leading into the Filoni movie is going to be a (much different and highly adapted) version of Heir to the Empire, and perhaps maybe even that entire Zahn trilogy. What I wonder is how much Luke, Leia and Han will factor into this adaptation. I assume they'll all be there in some capacity. Especially with how much the de-aging and deep fake stuff is improving. And how much Luke has already factored into the TV stuff.

But like will Ahsoka be the main protagonist instead of Luke? Will the Grogu stuff (and maybe even the Snoke stuff) replace the original cloning plot in HttE? We'll see what happens. But it really feels like they're taking that trilogy, sanding down the rough edges of it, and making it compatible with current canon. And I for one think it could end up being really special.

I don’t disagree but it’s also a balancing act on the edge of a knife. What this franchise desperately needs, despite my love for continuous storylines versus the episodic approach, is a fresh approach with new characters and storylines that aren’t beholden to the past and how it fits into the larger franchise canon. And, more importantly, A-list talent behind the camera. I feel like Rian Johnson took a step in that direction with TLJ and we all know how that turned out with the course over-correction in RoS.

Mandalorian is going downhill, in part, because it’s trying to expand the scope of its storytelling to support the bigger, “main” narrative thread. Filoni and company don’t have much room for error here and the storytelling we’ve seen on Disney+ thus far has been, at best, inconsistent and mediocre (Andor notwithstanding, and I don’t see Gilroy being given more control over the future of the franchise. I dunno, maybe Andy Greenwald and that top secret story meeting Disney held will help drive things in a better direction.).

The very best of Star Wars over the last decade are stretches of Clone Wars and Rebels. Filoni absolutely deserves credit for that but it doesn’t mean putting him in charge of the big picture is going to result in something truly great. He’s certainly the most promising candidate at the moment to do so, however.

A lot to unpack in that post. But for now I'll just say I disagree with a lot of it.

Fair enough. What I think I want to emphasize more than anything: if you do not put A-list talent behind the camera and with hands on writing the script, you're not gonna have a good (enough) result.

He’s the only man for the job to bring all these things together. He and the story group have been building all this for years. They’re planned out years ago and he and the story group years ahead of anything we even know about at any point.
Direction isn’t all that important in a Star Wars movie is it?
Camera is completely static in a new hope for example. as is the structure of the direction.
He’ll be fine as director. And he’s been on set for all the new films and learned loads of people like rian Johnson so direction isn’t something I’d be worried about with him.

All I would wonder is how do you bring in all the elements they’re planning to into one place and do it successfully in a way that the entire audience knows what’s happening and nit just Star Wars nut jobs like us.
That’s gonna be the thing

**she’s been misquoted here. What she actually said was it’s about a 6 or 7 year build up to the movie. And it’s the "Escalating war between the Imperial remnant and the New Republic."

So we’re halfway there.