The Expansion of "Star Wars:" Where It's Going

             Hey guys, Chuck here. It's been a few days, but I'm back once again. The reason I took some time away after the conclusion of Marvel May was due to, first of all, my busy work schedule, and second of all, an out-of-state trip I took to attend my sister's wedding. To that, I say congrats to my sister, Melissa, and her new husband, Devin. Now, with all that out of the way, let's discuss the ever-growing expanded universe of Star Wars. 

            Now, I should mention that, prior to the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney, another Star Wars Expanded Universe existed that consisted of various books, comics, and video games. Unfortunately, the canonicity of the Expanded Universe titles, including the highly renowned novel trilogy Heir to the Empire as well as the beloved Knights of the Old Republic video game, were being poorly kept track of. George Lucas primarily focused on the big screen movies, as well as the Cartoon Network animated series The Clone Wars, and everything else was left to just exist with no real regard towards canon. This led to countless stories released that were either set between the films Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope or set after the events of Return of the Jedi. And all of these stories, whether in books, comics, video games, etc., would unfortunately cancel each other out in terms of canonicity. Disney ultimately decided to clear up the timeline by taking the old Expanded Universe and rebranding it as "Legends," thus allowing for better control over the canonicity of all future Star Wars media, including new movies, television projects, video games, books, and comics. 

            Of course, among the new content within the universe of Star Wars is The Mandalorian. Now, I've talked about this series before, so I won't go into too many details. However, the success of the series led to a number of spin-offs being green-lit. The first of said spin-offs was The Book of Boba Fett, which focused on Boba Fett working to take control over the criminal element on Tatooine. The series was definitely a lot of fun, and it featured the live-action debut of notorious bounty hunter Cad Bane, who was introduced in the animated series The Clone Wars. As a matter of fact, that's one thing about this new era of Star Wars. Characters introduced in animation are now able to make the leap into live-action projects and vice versa. So far, we've seen the likes of Bo-Katan Kryze, Saw Gerrera, Ahsoka Tano, and the aforementioned Cad Bane all make the leap into live-action. Heck, we've even seen a book character, Cobb Vanth, make an appearance in live-action. 

            With this new expansion of Star Wars courtesy of the platform Disney+, we've also been able to see new types of series pop up, including the animated series Star Wars Visions, which showcased a number of non-canon shorts set in the Star Wars universe from several of the top anime production houses in Japan, including Studio Trigger and Kamikaze Douga. A second set of shorts is currently in development, with a more global line-up of animation houses from Japan, India, Ireland, South Africa, Spain, Chile, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States all contributing to the new line-up of shorts. I loved quite a number of the shorts from the first season, and I eagerly look forward to seeing the next season in 2023. 

            On top of that, we've also seen an expansion of the Star Wars universe in printed media, with one of the more recent portions of those being part of a new mass-media initiative called The High Republic. expanding over books for adults, teens, and children, as well as comics and manga, this new era of Star Wars is set two-hundred years before The Phantom Menace, and is definitely a part of the Star Wars franchise that I've enjoyed. And even if I'm alone, which I know I'm not, I'm happy to be among a few that holds a deep appreciation for The High Republic books and comics, and I definitely look forward to a number of new projects set in this era, such as the Disney+ series The Acolyte. 

            In conclusion, while we may have seen the old Expanded Universe be cleared from the canon timeline, we now have the most immersive version of the Star Wars universe, with dozens of future titles to further expand the franchise for generations to come. I, for one, am very happy to be a Star Wars fan, and I eagerly await all of the exciting new titles we're getting in terms of movies, streaming television, books, and games. Anyway, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time. 

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