Star Wars, Stop Wasting Time - Give Us The Epic Mandalorians Vs. Jedi Battles We Need
Since going on theatrical hiatus after "The Rise of Skywalker," "Star Wars" has been taken in a lot of different directions. We've gotten prequel-era animated ventures like "The Clone Wars" Season 7 and "Tales of the Jedi," Imperial-era stories like "Andor" and "Obi-Wan Kenobi," and a number of shows set after the original trilogy. That's without even mentioning the transmedia "High Republic" project, which takes place several hundred years before "The Phantom Menace."
Whatever point in the timeline you love most, there's something out there for you — with one major exception. Despite being one of the most popular settings in the old "Star Wars" Legends canon, Disney has done next to nothing in the Old Republic era. Most famously developed in the "Knights of the Old Republic" video games, which take place thousands of years before the events of the prequel trilogy, the time period features galactic wars, massive battles between the Jedi and the Sith, and a golden age for Mandalore. Or at least, it did.
While several bits of Old Republic lore have been recanonized, the era has largely been left untouched since Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm. But the time is now, and the Mandalorians are the way. Rewriting specific storylines that are still held dear by many fans would be tricky business, but by building off the success of "The Mandalorian," Disney could make a perfect way back in. It's time to show us the epic Mandalorian vs. Jedi battles we've heard so much about.
It's well past time for some Old Republic content
Fans of the Old Republic era have been waiting for some new, canon stories for years. Although the MMORPG "Star Wars: The Old Republic" has continued to run and receive updates since Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, it isn't recognized as official canon anymore, and neither are its predecessors. Still, some key elements from the games have been sneakily brought out of Legends and into the modern canon.
For instance, Darth Bane makes an appearance in Season 6 of "The Clone Wars" via some spooky Sith magic, and Darth Revan's name is used for one of Palpatine's battalions in "The Rise of Skywalker." These characters hold massive importance for the history of the Sith in the Legends timeline, but it's still unclear how much of their old stories are canon today.
It's well past time for Disney to revisit the Old Republic in more detail. Not only is the era a rich setting filled with huge conflicts and great characters, but it also inhabits a different genre from the rest of the franchise. The massive presence of the Sith during the Old Republic creates a galactic dynamic that evokes high fantasy, and the Jedi Order is also quite different in the era. Recent "Star Wars" projects like "Andor" have shown that branching out into other styles and tones can yield fantastic results. It's time for Disney to stop dawdling and finally bring the Old Republic to the screen.
Mandalorians are a better way in than the Jedi or Sith
The tricky thing about making a big-budget Old Republic movie or show is that there's a lot of lore to cover. The video games and tie-in novels and comics are loaded with info about the Sith, the Jedi, and galactic politics as a whole. Many fans would come to a new adaptation with all that knowledge in mind, while others would be watching without any of the context. Things only get more complicated when questions of canon enter the mix. Surely, Disney would keep some key narrative tenets the same, but a lot would also likely be changed. All in all, there's just a lot of Force-sensitive baggage that any Old Republic project would have to contend with.
However, a lot of these problems could be solved thanks to the Mandalorians. The warrior culture is also incredibly important to the Old Republic era, with the Mandalorians fighting numerous wars with the Jedi and ruling huge swaths of the galaxy at different points. Mandalore has the added benefit, though, of being less central to the major Old Republic stories from Legends. That means there's a lot more room for writers to play and create without having to contend directly with the older timeline.
Focusing an Old Republic movie or show through a Mandalorian lens also makes a lot of business sense for Disney. While the era is still popular, newer fans don't have much connection to it — but they do have a connection to Mandalore thanks to the huge success of "The Mandalorian." Making a new Old Republic story that focuses on the Mandalorians could bring in viewers from all sides of the "Star Wars" fandom.
Mandalore's past is more important now than ever
"The Mandalorian" Season 3 is really starting to live up to the show's name. While the prior two seasons largely focused on the ins and outs of bounty hunting, the heinous doings of the Imperial remnants, and how to take care of a 50-year-old toddler, Season 3 is all in on the lore of Mandalore. In Episode 2, Din Djarin and Grogu venture back to the planet, bringing it to the live-action "Star Wars" universe for the first time. And while there, they have to contend with Mandalore's complicated and violent history.
It's true that the devastation seen in "The Mandalorian" Season 3 was caused by the Empire's purge, but the planet was already in a rough place before that tragic event. In "The Clone Wars," domed cities like Sundari are the only real settlements on Mandalore, as the world's natural landscape was decimated long ago in both civil wars and battles with the Jedi. The so-called Mandalorian Cataclysm has been mentioned in the modern canon, but it takes place so far in the past that few details have been revealed.
As "Star Wars" continues to build out the modern Mandalorian story in the New Republic era, it would make sense to go back in time and also show the civilization's history. Let's see Mand'alor the Great tame the mythosaur. Let's see the creation and first use of the Darksaber. There are a ton of exciting stories to tell in Mandalore's past, and they're all now relevant to the ongoing "Mandalorian" saga.
What an Old Republic Mandalorian project could look like
If Disney were to pursue a big Old Republic project centered on the Mandalorians, there are a few different forms it could take. A movie is possible, but that seems unlikely for several reasons. For starters, the franchise is still on the self-imposed big-screen hiatus that began after "The Rise of Skywalker," and jumping straight into a whole new era might not be Disney's preferred way back into theaters. There have been reports of a "Knights of the Old Republic" movie being developed, but it's hard to know if that will bear fruit. Additionally, a story about old Mandalore just seems better suited for Disney+.
"Star Wars" will never be "Game of Thrones," and should never strive to be. The sci-fi franchise is still rightfully, at its core, for kids and families. But "Andor" has shown us that tonal divergences are possible, and can even be great. Much of the modern TV and streaming landscape is dominated by big, ensemble-driven dramas filled with intrigue and suspense — shows like "House of the Dragon" and "Succession." It's perhaps easiest to imagine an Old Republic Mandalorian show going in that direction.
Canonically, there are already tons of civil wars and political disputes in the history of Mandalore. Those could make up the meat of the show, while clashes with the Jedi or Sith could be held for bigger, more climactic moments. Because of the setting, there would be more of a fantasy tone, and we'd get to visit a lot of new planets since the galactic landscape would be so different.
Of course, the main draw would still be the obvious one: seeing squads of Jedi facing off against Mandalorians on mythosaurs in battles that could give the MCU a run for its money. Please Disney, this is the way.