Why the removal of the ‘Expanded Universe’ was a good thing

I like to rant, anyone who knows me will know this. It’s just something I enjoy doing and I’m a pretty opinionated —  I don’t run a podcast or a YouTube, so my rants are always written. My fellow writer Mark Sutter likes to get involved with my rants on Twitter, and I feel he will agree with me on this one, I feel most of the Cantina Cast will, and well, I think most Star Wars fans will. Getting rid of the Expanded Universe was a good idea and a good thing. 

 Now, I know you all love the EU and so do I, it has some amazing stories and one of my all time favourite novels, Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, but lets be real here, when Disney bought Star Wars, the EU was never going to stay and why would it have? The old EU had over 200 stories, if I’m not mistaken, and when you are looking to restart a franchise and really kick-it back into shape, like Disney, you’re not going to keep 200 stories around that will hinder what can be done by writers/directors in the movies. To truly give directors the artistic and creative freedom that they needed they had to abolish all the old stories. JJ Abrams and his team wanted to let people know what happened to our favourite characters and the Star Wars galaxy after ROTJ, but they couldn’t do that if they had stories like: The Thrawn trilogy, the old Marvel comics, and the 100’s of other post ROTJ stories holding them back. Now don’t get me wrong, the Thrawn trilogy is amazing and would have made a good movie, if handled correctly. They wanted to bring us a new and original story, and to do that, they had to rid the canon of the old EU. 

 

But here’s a silver lining, yep my rants usually have at least one. The EU isn’t gone, yeah sure it isn’t canon, but Disney didn’t go all Fahrenheit 451 and burn any books or remnants of the old EU. Nope, they actually made them Legends. You can still buy them and enjoy the stories just like any other book —  you can still read the ones you own and you can still enjoy them. You may make the point “Yeah, but why read them, if they didn’t happen?” I will counter that point with a Simpsons quote , when Comic Book Guy says one comic didn’t happen and was only a dream, Bart then replies “None of these stories actually happened”. Bart is right, he rarely is, but he is this time. None of these stories actually happened, A New Hope, Death Troopers, Thrawn Trilogy, they are all Fiction, so you shouldn’t get yourself hung up on something not being canon. Canon is put in place simply to give a series order, and so stories, don’t become a mess or contradict each other.

Also, the old EU isn’t completely dead, they were given Legend status to remind people that they can still be used. Legends characters, stories and places, can be used in the current canon, if needed. Sullust was an EU planet, but it has been used for Battlefront and is now part of the Star Wars canon. Kylo Rens mask, takes inspiration from Revans mask —  the Knights of Ren seem very similar to the Revanites or Order of Revan, Starkiller Base is a nod to Starkiller, Galen Marek, from the Force Unleashed games. It would not surprise me one bit if Supreme Leader Snoke takes massive inspiration from Grand Admiral Thrawn. All these characters are still around in their respective novels and they can, and will, be used directly or for inspiration for the current Star Wars canon. So please, stop this unneeded and unwelcome hatred for what happened to the EU. It may not be canon, but the stories still remain, and you can still read them.

The Cantina Cast

The wretched hive your Jedi Master warned you about!

 

If you would like to read more of my many opinions you can do so on Twitter

Féadfaidh an Fórsa Bí Le tú,
Andy

Lastly, I’d like to say Rest In Peace to Star Wars Super Fan, Daniel Fleetwood, who sadly died. Thankfully he got his dying wish and was the first fan to see The Force Awakens. He was granted this wish after the amazing effort made by: the Star Wars Community, Disney, and LucasFilm.