Is it foolish to wait for an Old Republic Trilogy from the creators of the Star Wars universe?

 

Within the Star Wars universe, “The Old Republic” is a term that refers to a time period between 3956 and 3630 years before the Battle of Yavin (as seen in 1977’s Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope). It is also part of what fans refer to as “Legends” continuity, meaning it is part of the Star Wars canon that was declared non-canon after Disney bought all rights to the Star Wars property in 2012.

The term was first introduced to the world with the release of the original 2003 Xbox video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, developed by BioWare, and is subsequently the game that put BioWare on the map. Since then, the game has spawned two official sequels: the original Xbox game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords, developed by Obsidian Entertainment in 2004, and the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, developed again by BioWare in 2011, as well as numerous spin-off novels and comics. It was also confirmed in September 2021 that a remake of the original 2003 classic is currently in development by Aspyr Media, Inc. and will be a temporary exclusive for the PlayStation 5 before eventually moving to other platforms.

With so much love and demand for new Star Wars-related content, it should come as no surprise that Disney and Lucasfilm may be working on an entirely new trilogy of films set in the “Old Republic” time period behind the scenes. While nothing has been officially confirmed yet, leaks and rumours from various sources have hinted at the possibility that an Old Republic trilogy is in development.

While the prospect of more Star Wars films is by no means a bad thing, the use of “The Old Republic” as a setting could be a game changer for casual fans of the Star Wars films, as it is both visually and thematically very different from the rest of the Star Wars canon. It should also be noted that since this period of Star Wars history is set thousands of years before the events of 1999’s Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, none of the familiar characters or concepts will be present in any form, meaning that almost everything is going to be new to some extent.

True to the film trilogies, each game in the Old Republic series stars a new main character and a new cast of supporting characters and villains. Not only that, but the most recent game in the series, Star Wars: The Old Republic, is an MMO with multiple expansions, the most recent of which came out in February this year. This means that there is an absolute cornucopia of source material from which Disney and Lucasfilm can draw inspiration to create a story. With Disney’s new canon, anything is possible. However, while there is plenty of material to work with, most of The Old Republic’s story can be tied to the actions of one man, the Jedi knight known as Revan. With this in mind, it is very, very likely that if an Old Republic trilogy is in the works, it will focus primarily on Revan’s story.

Fans of the original classic Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic will know Revan as the Jedi knight who led the Jedi Order in the fight against the Mandalorians in The Mandalorian Wars – which all the Mandalorian characters continue to reference in Clone Wars, Rebels and The Mandalorian. Eventually, Revan fell to the dark side and became the Sith Lord Darth Revan before redeeming himself and rediscovering the light. So, with that description, there’s a lot of plot potential for one character.

While the current popularity of the Mandalorians in the Star Wars universe presents the strong possibility of telling the story of The Mandalorian Wars, the far more likely story that Disney and Lucasfilm will tell is the events of the Jedi Civil War and Revan’s redemption. The reason is that those are the events that are covered in the current Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game and, as such, it’s the story that everyone knows and will most likely want to see. After all, the continued popularity of Star Wars is proof that people like what they are familiar with.

Realistically, with all the current Star Wars-related projects going on both at Disney+ and on the big screen, if an Old Republic trilogy is in the works, we may not see or hear about it for a few years. In total, there are currently more than ten known Star Wars-related projects that Disney and Lucasfilm are working on, each with their own production schedules, and that’s not counting series that may have multiple seasons. What this means, unfortunately, is that Disney and Lucasfilm are going to have their hands full for the next few years finishing all of their current projects before they can think about anything related to The Old Republic.

However, as has already been said, more Star Wars-related content is by no means a bad thing. Still, those wishing for an Old Republic trilogy sooner rather than later will have to follow the lead of the Jedi themselves and be patient. Good things, after all, come to those who wait.

Source: Movieweb