In an announcement made on Friday, April 25, LucasFilm revealed that any future additions to the Star Wars franchise–be it book, movie or videogame–from here on out will be connected to the new official Star Wars canon, and it’ll have a dedicated story group–directed by LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy–that will oversee and coordinate all creative development regarding the Star Wars IP.
” We have an unprecedented slate of new Star Wars entertainment on the horizon, ” Kennedy said in the announcement. ” We’re set to bring Star Wars back to the big screen, and continue the adventure through games, books, comics, and new formats that are just emerging. This future of interconnected storytelling will allow fans to explore this galaxy in deeper ways than ever before. ”
In order to give the maximum amount of creative freedom to filmmakers, the announcement continues, the upcoming new Star Wars trilogy will not tell the same story that was told in the post- Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe. However, story elements of the Expanded Universe will be included in the upcoming CGI animated series Star Wars Rebels , such as the Inquisitor, the Imperial Security Bureau and the Sienar Fleet Systems (which have their origins in roleplaying game material published back in to the 1980s).
Demand for the previous Expand Universe material will keep said material in print, the announcement states, which will be presented under the new Legends banner.
Star Wars Rebels will be the first addition to the new canon, along with the first batch of new novels from Del Rey Books–the first novel of which will precede the events of Star Wars Rebels . This novel will offer insight into the backstory of a key character from the series, and it will have direct input from executive producers Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg,and Greg Weisman.
Considering all future additions to the IP will now be part of the canon, it’d be safe to assume that upcoming videogame titles such as DICE’s Star Wars: Battlefront and Visceral Games’ unnamed Star Wars project will also be part of the canon. The writer and creative director of the Uncharted series, Amy Hennig, recently joined Visceral Games to work on said unnamed Star Wars project. While some elements may be included from the Expanded Universe, it’s been interpreted that the majority of it will be disregarded in favor of the new canon.
Recently, EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson made it clear that the publisher’s upcoming Star Wars titles will not be based directly on the new Star Wars movie trilogy from Disney. Instead, the publisher will be taking a page from the Batman: Arkham series , where it will take Star Wars back to the roots of its IP and build up from there.
Principal photography began for the first addition to the new movie trilogy, Star Wars: Episode VII , on Tuesday, March 18. The film is slated to drop on theatres on December 18, 2015 .
[ StarWars.com ]