Right now, it seems like The Mandalorian will play an important role in the future of Star Wars and we are here to explore how this tv show did the impossible. 

What Happened With The Sequel Trilogy? 

In the original Star Wars trilogy, we all connected with Luke Skywalker and his gang. Later on, this was explored and expanded as the Star Wars universe grew bigger and told Luke’s tales after the movie events of the Return of the Jedi. 

The prequel trilogy then explored more about the Skywalkers. In those movies, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker were heroes of what’s known as the Clone Wars. In 2012, Lucasfilm was acquired by Disney and to their credit, they planned on continuing this forward. 

This resulted in them releasing the sequel trilogy that would introduce new characters and continue the stories of the old characters as well. However, as has been revealed now, there was no solid planning or direction to take the sequel trilogy in. Even star Daisey Ridley has said they were changing character details on the sets of the last movie Think that’s all? Not even close. 

When the sequel trilogy was being planned, George Lucas saw a lot of potential in that story. So he drafted his version of it. Then Disney did buy those scripts, but they decided to change them according to their own vision. No doubt that Disney wanted the sequel movies to be successful and continue the narrative with further movies and spin-offs. 

But that certainly didn’t happen. Instead, now it’s clear that Lucasfilm is relying on The Mandalorian, the very first Star Wars live-action TV series to carry the franchise forward. 

Why Is The Mandalorian Poised To Be The Flagship Star Wars Project?

Initially, The Mandalorian was going to be like a side story. After all, a premise about a singular gunslinger working on the galaxy’s Outer Rim, far away from the entire Sith and Jedi drama does make for a great little story that will also end up enriching the galaxy. 

Also setting the story on Tatooine was a brilliant move as well since Luke Skywalker has himself said that it is the planet that’s the farthest away from the bright center of the galaxy. Not to mention that it is the sort of environment that Din Djarin was comfortable with as well. 

However, what we thought was just going to be a space western became much more than that with the introduction of Baby Yoda or Grogu. By the time the second season rolled around, we saw Mando interacting with Ahsoka Tano, Boba Fett, and more. But the top tier interaction was with Luke Skywalker himself. So slowly, the story of this lone bounty hunter was skillfully interwoven into the overall narrative of Star Wars. 

In season 2, the show brought Boba Fett back and made viewers love him again thanks to that amazing action scene. After this, they gave him his own show. The same happened with Ahsoka Tano. She was introduced in live-action for the first time in season 2 and then given her own spin-off where she will be hunting for Grand Admiral Thrawn. 

It’s shown that Thrawn is set to be Palpatine’s successor and the Imperial Remnant’s leader. The group is still working on the galaxy’s Outer Rim. This means that the Galactic Civil War was just never really over. Along with these two spin-offs, Dave Filoni is also exploring the characters who were first introduced on The Mandalorian. 

An example for of this is Fennec Shand who is appearing now in Star Wars: The Bad Batch. So it’s clear that Lucasfilm and Disney are planning on building the future of the galaxy through this show and not the sequel trilogy. 

Why Did The Sequel Trilogy Fail? 

The sequel trilogy was by no means a commercial failure. Disney and Lucasfilm minted a lot of money and definitely enjoyed profits. But when it comes to critical reception, there was a lot of division among the fanbase and critics too. 

This led to Lucasfilm trying to fix the movies but it all leads to a really unsatisfying climax. To further the problems, the actors associated with the movies now don’t want to come back to the galaxy. The most vocal of them has been John Boyega regarding the treatment of his character by the franchise. 

The Mandalorian has filled the gap here and did what the sequel trilogy should have done- introduce brand new characters as well as locations that could serve a launchpad for further stories. We need to also add that everything in the show is built organically on what we know came before it. 

This goes from the First Order’s emergence to that of Palpatine’s revelation regarding his back-from-the-dead thing that was cleared by tie-ins. Along with this, the Disney+ show has led to an impressive resurgence of interest in the older TV shows of Lucasfilms. Of course, this mostly includes Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels. 

Betting Everything On The Mandalorian Can Go Wrong

Till now, the sequel trilogy and everything associated with it has come to define the Disney era. We know that Lucasfilm understands that there were a lot of issues with these movies and characters too. So we have no doubt that slowly they will try to fix it with tie-in books, comics, and such, just like they did with the prequel trilogy. 

But that can take some time. So in the meantime, it’s absolutely expected that The Mandalorian will continue to be important to Disney and Lucasfilm. It also seems like this new universe that’s spinning out of The Mandalorian, will be centered on the lone bounty hunter Din Djarin and not on the Skywalkers for the first time. 

However, there are risks as well. After all, the show has started expanding the galaxy in a way that deviates sharply from the classic Sith-Jedi dynamic. But this combined with a sharp focus only on Din Djarin might make the galaxy feel shrunken again. The difference this time around will be that it is Din Djarin this time. 

Along with this, there’s the worry that Lucasfilm will begin seeing The Mandalorian as just a launchpad for new projects. This can take focus away from the characters and plots that made the show work in the first place. We need to mention that gradually Lucasfilm is willing to alter the Star Wars canon. 

Realistically, we all knew that this day would come. After all, some tweaks have to be made as the story continues to grow. But there’s a major issue with this. This is the fact that sometime or the other, the overarching story will get damaged if something doesn’t line up with what was established before. The dangers of this becomes even more prevalent if the studio completely moves away from the Star Wars sequels and into The Mandalorian. 

So, the Star Wars galaxy is definitely going through changes courtesy of The Mandalorian. Right now, by looking at the spin-off plate, it certainly seems to be extensive. Just how extensive it will actually turn out to be and how it will change Star Wars depends to be seen. 

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