Starkiller: 5 Ways Galen Marek Can Return To Star Wars Canon
"Star Wars" has maintained a presence in the gaming world for decades, offering players such beloved titles as "Star Wars: Battlefront," "LEGO Star Wars," and "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order," to name a few. Among these revered hits is "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed," which is basically what you'd get if you injected "Star Wars" with the core game mechanics of "God of War." It's a hack-and-slash, button-mashing good time for anyone curious about what it would be like to use over-the-top Force abilities against all kinds of enemies.
Of course, there's more to "The Force Unleashed" and its less-adored sequel, "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II," than exaggerated gameplay. The story focuses on Darth Vader's (Matt Sloan) secret apprentice, Galen Marek (Sam Witwer), better known as Starkiller. Marek evolves in the first game from a rageful Sith to a compassionate Jedi, falling in love with pilot Juno Eclipse (Nathalie Cox), founding the Rebel Alliance, and even pushing Vader and Emperor Palpatine (Witwer) to their limits. Unfortunately, this tale and that of the sequel, where Starkiller is cloned and returns to battle the Empire, are not part of the current "Star Wars" canon. Thus, Starkiller isn't either.
However, that's not to say that the overpowered and immensely popular Force user can't make his way into the canon someday. Here are five ways the Lucasfilm team could make it happen within the current canon framework.
Vader's secret apprentice
Since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, it has done a decent job of both streamlining the "Star Wars" canon and expanding upon it. In doing so, Darth Vader's journey has been thoroughly explored through various forms of media, from his own comic book series to his appearances on the Disney+ miniseries "Obi-Wan Kenobi." While it may seem like there's not much room to delve further into his life story, if the "Star Wars" franchise has proven anything, it's that making room to tell a new tale is never impossible.
Therefore, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Starkiller can enter the modern "Star Wars" universe as Vader's secret apprentice, albeit with a tweaked origin and a story to fit the canon. Perhaps between the events of "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" and "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope," Vader actually finds time to take on and mold a Sith trainee away from the prying eyes of the Emperor and the wider galaxy. As in "The Force Unleashed," maybe they have a falling out before "A New Hope" or Starkiller even dies, thus explaining his absence later on.
Besides, if Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) can take on Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) as his apprentice in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," despite her never fully appearing in the main "Star Wars" films, who's to say a similar scenario couldn't happen with Vader and Starkiller?
An Imperial Inquisitor
A major addition to the "Star Wars" canon under the Disney umbrella has been the Imperial Inquisitors. These dark side Force users operate under Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, snuffing out the remaining Jedi scattered across the galaxy. They've taken center stage on "Star Wars Rebels" and in the "Star Wars Jedi" games, with new ones popping up on a semi-regular basis. If the minds at Lucasfilm wanted a quick and easy way to bring Starkiller into the canon, why not just make him an Inquisitor?
In fact, this idea very nearly came to fruition some years ago. Sam Witwer revealed as much in a Cameo video (via Colonel Useless), sharing that Starkiller was considered by series creator Dave Filoni for the Inquisitorius on "Rebels." "I know that Dave, at one point, when he was doing 'Star Wars Rebels,' thought about including him as an Inquisitor," Witwer revealed. The Starkiller actor noted that as Vader's secret apprentice in "The Force Unleashed," the character already served the same function as Inquisitors by hunting down Jedi at his master's request. Therefore, making him a prominent Inquisitor wouldn't be that drastic of a narrative leap from "Star Wars Legends" to canon.
If Lucasfilm were to go this route, this would also be an excellent way to bring Starkiller's Inquisitor-like Sith armor to the big or small screen beyond its blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance on "Andor."
A survivor of Order 66
Order 66 is a landmark event in the "Star Wars" canon for more reasons than one. Not only does it effectively mark the end of the Galactic Republic and the birth of the Galactic Empire, but it also brings about the collapse of the Jedi Order. The vast majority of Jedi Knights die during the event, with only a few managing to evade capture or death at the hands of clone troopers. Even some younglings, such as Grogu, Caleb Dume (Freddie Prinze Jr.), and Cal Kestis (Cameron Monaghan), narrowly survive.
Considering the scale of the Jedi Order at the time, it's possible that Starkiller could be one of these lucky young Force users. After all, in the first "Force Unleashed" game, it's revealed that he's the son of two Jedi, Mallie and Kento Marek (Tom Kane) — the latter of whom Darth Vader kills in front of him. In the current canon, it could be explained that the two planned to leave the Jedi Order behind, just as they do in "Star Wars Legends." However, Order 66 prevents them from doing so, and they're tragically killed, leaving their secret son, Galen, without parents.
Upon their demise, perhaps their son could be taken under the wing of fellow "Force Unleashed" favorite Jedi General Rahm Kota (Cully Fredricksen), much like he is in the games. Though this bypasses Starkiller's time as a Sith, at least this route brings him into the current canon, gets him to the point of becoming a skilled Jedi, and fully solidifies Kota's teased canon status.
An Imperial cloning experiment
Throughout projects such as "Star Wars: The Bad Batch," "The Mandalorian," and "Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker," the Empire is determined to perfect cloning. Not just any cloning, though. The regime is dedicated to cloning Force users by any means necessary. It's revealed in "The Rise of Skywalker" to be a longtime project of Emperor Palpatine, and "The Mandalorian" notes that Moff Gideon's (Giancarlo Esposito) goal is to clone himself and infuse his copies with the Force.
This all sets the stage for Starkiller's canon introduction. It can be explained that a version of Starkiller is a result of the Empire's cloning efforts. Perhaps some time earlier, like in "The Force Unleashed II," the real Starkiller dies, so the Empire collects his genetic material and attempts to clone him. After plenty of trial and error, the Empire's scientists eventually come up with a perfect Starkiller clone, which can be used by the Imperial remnant as part of a plan to overthrow the New Republic before it can even properly assert itself.
In going with this, Lucasfilm can put a new spin on the story of the Starkiller clone known as the Dark Apprentice from "The Force Unleashed II." This way, if they don't want to go out of their way to explain what became of the original Starkiller immediately, or touch on it at all, they can at least assure fans via the evil clone that he is indeed canon and has a proper backstory.
A Force user from outside the Star Wars galaxy
The Disney+ production "Ahsoka" does something pretty special: It takes audiences beyond the "Star Wars" galaxy into an entirely new one, where Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) have been stranded since the "Rebels" finale. Sadly, it doesn't take much time to explore this new galaxy, only hinting at the ancient presence of the Nightsisters and the influence of the Mortis gods known as the Father (Lloyd Sherr), the Son (Witwer), and the Daughter (Adrienne Wilkinson) on the planet Peridea.
With the mystery surrounding this far-off galaxy, it could be the perfect narrative device to bring Starkiller into the "Star Wars" canon. With the Force present in this new locale, he could arrive as either a Jedi or Sith, and his signature overpowered video game nature could be explained by his extragalactic origin. Maybe he undergoes a unique form of training or is a being of significance, which allows him to use the Force on a level not seen in the "Star Wars" galaxy. This way, since his "Star Wars Legends" origin and history might not be intact, at least his extreme Force abilities could be.
Sure, this explanation might be a stretch, seeing as Starkiller would literally and figuratively come from an entirely different world into the one fans are familiar with, but that's just part of the fun of theorizing.