The Star Wars Expanded Universe Was a 36-Year Fever Dream, From Which We Are Now Waking
Yes, you have spent up to 36 years reading books, watching shows, reading comics, and playing video games featuring the Star Wars Expanded Universe. You think the first expanded universe novel, 1978’s Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, is a classic, Thrawn is awesome, Kyle Katarn is cool, and Boba Fett did a lot more than go Wile E. Coyote into a Sarlaac pit.
But the official word today is that the expanded universe was, for the most part, fan fiction with good production values.
“While Lucasfilm always strived to keep the stories created for the EU consistent with our film and television content as well as internally consistent, Lucas always made it clear that he was not beholden to the EU. He set the films he created as the canon. This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align,” the statement said.
Lucasfilm seems to be going so far as to move away from the Expanded Universe concept and branding altogether. They’re renaming the old material under a new banner, Star Wars Legends, which much more clearly expresses the idea that these are “What If” stories.
That doesn’t mean that no Expanded Universe elements will be used at all, Star Wars creators will be free to pick and choose the ones that fit where they want the official continuity to go.
“In order to give maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers and also preserve an element of surprise and discovery for the audience, Star Wars Episodes VII-IX will not tell the same story told in the post-Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe. While the universe that readers knew is changing, it is not being discarded. Creators of new Star Wars entertainment have full access to the rich content of the Expanded Universe. For example, elements of the EU are included in Star Wars Rebels. The Inquisitor, the Imperial Security Bureau, and Sienar Fleet Systems are story elements in the new animated series, and all these ideas find their origins in roleplaying game material published in the 1980s,” the statement added.
OK, all fair and good, and honestly, we all knew in our hearts all along that this castle was build ton sand. But The Ewok Adventure will always be true in my heart, dammit. You can’t take that away from me.
[Source: Star Wars.com]