The Best Star Wars Stuff That Disney Doesn't Care About
Lucasfilm and Disney have officially pronounced the Star Wars Expanded Universe dead... or at least not quite alive as we knew it. Everything that fans knew and loved about the books, video games, and comics that occurred outside of the theatrical Original Trilogy has been razed from the face of Star Wars canon and conveniently slipped under the Legends banner, which is the franchise's version of an alternate reality. George Lucas, who had previously approved these Star Wars tales as canon, apparently doesn't believe in the law of "no backsies." As we mourn the Expanded Universe under the unforgiving reign of Lucas and Disney, here are some of the things we'll miss the most. Spoilers ahead (for a bunch of stuff that no longer counts), Star Wars fans...
The Tale Of Mara Jade
The story of Mara Jade is deeply interwoven into the story of the Skywalker family. While Jade never appeared onscreen in the Original Trilogy, the Expanded Universe positions her behind the scenes as a special agent for Emperor Palpatine. At one point she's assigned to assassinate Luke Skywalker during his visit to Jabba's Palace. Jade eventually shakes the Emperor's hold on her and becomes a Jedi Master, marrying Luke Skywalker and having a few Jedi babies. Of everything trashed by Disney, Mara Jade is the biggest loss to the Star Wars universe.
Jacen Solo's Journey
While much of Jacen Solo's story is told through the kid-friendly Young Jedi Knights series of books, it's the older, darker Jacen that will be missed the most. Han and Leia's kid starts out normal enough, but grandpa Vader's Sith-ness survives below the surface. Jacen ends up becoming the Sith Lord Darth Caedus and killing Uncle Luke's wife in order to possibly prevent a galactic war he's seen in a vision. It's everything that we wanted to see in Anakin Skywalker's fall and redemption that the Prequel Trilogy bumbled so terribly.
The Emperor Reborn...Twice
People who dabble in the Force don't just die when they're thrown down bottomless spaceship garbage disposals. So, when Emperor Palpatine's bony old body disintegrates in space, it makes sense that he'd come back in some form. In this case, that form was a Sith ghost, which plants itself in a convenient Emperor clone that Palpatine had made before he died. When that clone is killed by Luke and Leia, both now Jedi, Palpatine's ghost comes back yet again and tries to possess Leia's baby, Anakin Jr. It's like the soap opera that no one knew they wanted.
RIP, Chewbacca
We've not yet seen if Disney has left any parts of the Expanded Universe in one piece, but we can be absolutely sure that they've erased one critical moment by allowing Chewbacca to live, at least through The Force Awakens. In the Star Wars book Vector Prime, Chewie bites the big one during an attack by the evil Yuuzhan Vong while saving Han Solo's son. We now know from The Force Awakens' trailers that Disney's Chewie is still hanging out with Han in the ol' Millennium Falcon, because Chewbacca's presence means big action figure sales. Still, it's nice to see that the furball lives, at least for a little while longer.
Boba Fett Lives
While the Expanded Universe kills off Chewie, it also brings back fan-favorite Boba Fett. Fun fact: all of Fett's lines in the original Star Wars trilogy can fit into a single Tweet. Despite his taciturn personality, he's still a cult character, even though he accidentally gets launched into a space-sphincter and dies in Return of the Jedi. According to old canon, Fett's armor protects him from the Sarlacc's tendrils and digestive juices and he goes on to live a very active life, making babies and killing bounties. Will he show up in The Force Awakens? Probably not, but a Mandalorian flag can be seen flying over Kanata's Castle....
Empatojayos Brand, The Next-To-Last Jedi
Emperor Palpatine's Great Jedi Purge may sound like a terrible restaurant chain, but it's also the name of the event that leads up to Obi-Wan and Yoda going into hiding. The Original Trilogy assumes that the two are the last remaining Jedi, but according to the Expanded Universe, there were a few more who escaped the genocide. One of these Jedi is Brand, whose body is destroyed when his spaceship crashes during a battle with Vader. Brand has his body replaced with a floating steampunk ball, a bit like Star Wars' version of MODOK. It's so bizarre and truly sci-fi that it's a shame to lose the weirdo cyborg Jedi sphere.
Force-Sensitive Droids
Remember the little R2 unit at the beginning of A New Hope that blew a gasket before he even made it out of the Jawas' desert showroom? That droid is named Skippy, and he could use the Force. Experiencing a vision that Luke would need R2-D2 to fulfill his destiny, Skippy busts one of his own bolts so that R2-D2 would be chosen instead of him. While this all might seem like a horribly stupid idea, it shows a glimmer of hope that the Force has nothing to do with "midichlorians," the benevolent space-virus living in Jedi guts, which is considerably dumber.
Everything Thrawn
Without Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine to terrorize the universe, Star Wars needed a new villain, and it couldn't be more of the same. Thrawn, while still seeking to destroy the New Republic that sprung up after the destruction of the Empire, doesn't mess with any Force stuff at all, instead relying on his skills as an exceptional military leader and strategist. Thrawn maintains an open mind when it comes to crushing his enemies and often rewards creative solutions to the Jedi problem with promotions, rather than just Force-choking subordinates who speak out of turn. You will be missed, you beautiful, blue-skinned man.