Not gonna lie, it is hard to separate Star Wars from jedi. Although Star Wars does have a big universe, its big selling point is jedi, lightsabers, and the force. If a series that focused on smugglers is created, what really differentiates that show from a new IP like Firefly if you dont bring in the jedi element somehow through references like the smugglers just happen to be smuggling kyber crystals? Even if you dont start with any jedi stuff, the audience is expecting and hoping for it and you will be pressured to deliver.
For some, maybe. Personally, I think Star Wars is big enough that you don't need the Force or Jedi or Sith at all to keep it interesting. It's a setting, not a formula. Or, at least, it should be.
Examples:
- The Mandalorian is giving us a pretty good glimpse at the grubby, grimy underworld of Star Wars. Even without Baby Yoda or Luke or Ahsoka showing up, the show is terrific, and I think it's terrific because it isn't all bound up with all the Force stuff.
- I know not everyone liked it, but I loved Solo, which was almost entirely devoid of anything relating to the Force and only briefly touched on it in the final moment of the film -- and even then it still wasn't
really about that. I'd love to see more stories in that end of the Star Wars universe.
- You could do multiple movie series or TV shows about the grunts of the Star Wars universe. The Rebel troopers, the special forces, the pilots, none of which would need to even touch on the Force or have some "Do I have Jedi potential?!?!?" character.
I think Star Wars is at its absolute worst when it's reduced to a checklist of formulaic elements, or when we can't see past the elements that made past films popular to the deeper issues.
In a way, I see Star Wars as almost a genre unto itself. And when it comes to genre fiction, the key thing to remember is that the genre is a backdrop for telling stories about people and ideas. Genre fiction is mostly disposable when it's just a paint-by-numbers affair. Nobody would call the Friday the 13th series especially
good storytelling, for example. It's
fun but it's fun in a disposable way. You almost never get at anything deeper or more interesting than the formula itself, and you're really just there for the kills and the boobs. Genre fiction is way more interesting when it's
about something and the genre stuff is just the setting/backdrop. And that's the thing: the best genre fiction uses the unreality of the setting in a way that allows you to focus on the more human issues and deeper ideas. In a way, I think it lets you get even deeper into those human elements
because it's in this fantastical setting and it throws them into even sharper contrast, forcing you to really grapple with them on a fundamental level.
Stephen King's work is as good as it is not because of the supernatural or horror elements, but because his characters are so well written and so...human. Dune is a science fiction masterpiece not because of the sandworms and the appendices of funky names and human computers and whatnot, but because those elements highlight the tale of political intrigue, colonialism, religiosity, concepts of messiah, etc. You know, the human stuff. Frankenstein isn't a masterpiece because it's about a monster risen from the dead; it's because by being about how examining that monster forces us to grapple with the meaning of humanity and god.
I see Star Wars as having the same potential. You need to tick just enough boxes to fit the story within the genre, but what would ultimately make that story connect would be the human elements of it. The drama of people fighting against a tyrannical, oppressive power. The drama of surviving in a lawless frontier and the human interactions (even if they happen with aliens) in that setting. Questions of what makes a hero, and what the impact of "destiny" is on people.
This is a big part of why I like TLJ: it grapples with a lot of this. It treats Star Wars as a genre and a backdrop so that it can focus on the human aspects of Rey's journey, Luke's disillusionment, Ben's embrace of evil, familial connections, the weight of destiny on people and how it influences their choices, and how we decide who we are as people. I think some of the storylines aren't handled as well, and I think it's a bit too big of a divergence from the paint-by-numbers affairs that JJ made, leading to an overall very disjointed experience in watching the sequel trilogy, so it's not without its flaws. But the stuff I appreciate about it is that it really seems to
get this idea of "Star Wars is a genre/backdrop, not a checklist, and not an iterative story that gets re-told ad nauseum with the only interesting part being how this version is slightly different from the last one."
