How Return Of The Jedi Could Spawn New Star Wars Movies

When the Special Editions of the first Star Wars came out, some of the movies received bigger facelifts than others. Obviously, much of the critical attention focused on the weird new additions to A New Hope, including the hotly debated decision to have Greedo fire first. However, Return of the Jedi received some less-controversial changes to its ending, including replacing the infamous old "Yub Yub" Ewok song with a rather beautiful new composition from John Williams. While that music plays, we now see scenes of different planets celebrating the death of the Emperor and the destruction of the second Death Star. It's here where we receive our onscreen introduction to Coruscant—and glimpse a celebration that could be the end of its own movie.

As celebratory fireworks go off on Coruscant, a statue of Palpatine is dragged to the ground. We quickly transition back to Endor, but there has to be an epic story behind taking down that statue. How did people at the very center of the Empire's propaganda machine even learn what happened so quickly? How did a group on the homeworld of iron-fisted Imperial control (a world where we know the favored solution to perceived uprisings is to slaughter every man, woman, and child potentially involved) organize? And what happened to them afterwards? It's quickly clear that, like Rogue One, these simple events required a coordinated team of rogue agents risking their lives to defy the Emperor.

Some of the absolute coolest designs in Star Wars belonged to characters that never said a word onscreen—like the Imperial Guard. They looked badass, really liked the color red, and fiercely guarded Emperor Palpatine. Out of all of the groups who might be affected by his death, the Imperial Guard must have an amazing story waiting to be told.

In the Star Wars comics, a version of this story has already been told. Crimson Empire focused on a guardsman named Kir Kanos who, when betrayed by fellow guardsman Carnor Jax, must reluctantly ally himself with some Rebels in order to get his revenge. It isn't necessary to re-tell that particular story on the big screen, but the basic question of "what does someone do when they've lost the only thing giving their life meaning?" can make for powerful drama.

In addition to Grand Admiral Thrawn, Timothy Zahn introduced another fan favorite character in Heir to the Empire: Mara Jade. In the now non-canonical Star Wars novels, she married Luke Skywalker, and they had a son together. However, one Mara story that would make for an amazing movie doesn't have to involve Luke Skywalker or other famous Rebels, and it's tied directly to the death of Emperor Palpatine.

In Zahn's novels, Mara Jade was a special assistant to the Empire whose codename was "The Emperor's Hand." The vast majority of people in the Empire didn't know who she was, which is how the Emperor liked it. The secrecy surrounding her identity and purpose meant she could be used to spy on and assassinate enemies as well as supposed allies that were plotting against him. When Palpatine dies, however, she's in a kind of double blind, as her loyalty was to Palpatine personally rather than the Empire in general, and when he's gone, nobody knows she's a high-ranking Imperial. This forces her to create a new life for herself on the fringes of the galaxy, and she must constantly balance using the remnants of her Force abilities (that Palpatine helped develop) while keeping her Force sensitivity a secret. Mara's movie would focus on this critical time in her life and make countless fans happy by bringing their favorite fiery Star Wars redhead to the big screen.

Speaking of movies based around the bad guys, the sheer existence of the Starkiller base in The Force Awakens raises a series of questions. To start with, it's an entire planet that's been turned into a weapon utilizing theoretical technology, and it was even fitted with rocket boosters so it could move (although thanks to the Resistance, we never see that happen). How did all of this happen without the Resistance knowing? It's one thing to imagine that the Empire, at the height of their power, could secretly build a superweapon and hide it from a struggling Rebellion. It's another to imagine that the First Order, who must nominally operate on the fringes of the galaxy, could easily convert an entire planet into a superweapon without the New Republic or their allies hearing about it.

Thus, part of the purpose for such a movie would be to explain the actual mechanics of how this thing was created. This might include how long it took, how it was powered (it's easy to wonder if they had to strip-mine more Kyber crystals, as we saw in Rogue One), and who had to die to keep the Starkiller a secret. Additionally, this movie could help flesh out more of how the First Order sees themselves. Every writer knows that the secret to great villains is that they think they're the good guys. Do they really believe they're restoring order to the galaxy? Better still, do they see the New Republic as a threat to the galaxy, since they're secretly using the Resistance to crush anyone who opposes Republic rule? These questions (and more) could be answered in a truly unconventional movie.

Another idea for a new movie that riffs off of Return of the Jedi is to focus on a Jedi who survived the Emperor's purge. From a purely practical angle, it would seem impossible that the Empire could kill every single Jedi in the galaxy, and this idea is backed up by various canonical and formerly-canonical sources. Surviving Jedi might include maverick Quinlan Vos, who in some stories survived his wounds from Order 66, and anyone else Obi-Wan and Yoda might have successfully warned away when they changed the beacon near the end of Revenge of the Sith. Despite the fact that such survivors exist, Luke Skywalker is seemingly thought of as the last of the Jedi by the time Force Awakens rolls around. What happened?

Answering that question would provide a lot of potential directions for a movie. One might focus on a Jedi trying to survive on the fringes of the galaxy, where they're so focused on surviving attacks from Darth Vader that they don't yet know he's dead. Another might focus on a surviving Jedi master trying to gather other survivors together while avoiding remaining Imperials and bounty hunters. Another possibility is to focus on the Wild West trope of an older Jedi who's laid his lightsaber down and tries to raise a family and lead a simple life before being forced to defend his new life. Basically, every single potential Jedi who managed to survive is an opportunity for a new movie.