Not sure if you noticed, but October was a huge month for dropping significant Star Wars news. It came in drips and drabs, but the fandom took notice and shared the news amongst themselves.
• The Hunt for Ben Solo:
Holy Cow, Adam Driver dropped a huge piece of Star Wars news last month. The actor behind controversial wanna-be-Sith-Man-Child Kylo Ren stated that for two years, he’d been working with top Hollywood writer Scott Z. Burns, and director Steven Soderbergh on a Star Wars script called The Hunt for Ben Solo. Everybody at Lucasfilm loved it, Driver said it was cool, but after bringing it to the Disney executives Bob Iger nixed the whole idea. Apparently, this was fairly unprecedented in their relationship. That should have been the end of it. However, Driver brought it up in an interview, and the internet took it from there. Why? I think he still wants to get the movie made! It would be the ultimate redemption of Ben Solo.
There have been planes with messages on it (something that I used to see only on beaches during the summer), flyers around Disney stores with QR codes on them, etc. Weirder things have happened than a fan-driven campaign to bring a movie to the big screen. It happened with Deadpool and Zach Snyder’s Justice League, and it could happen here. Actually, I think it is a tremendously cool idea! They brought back Palpatine with no warning or fan talk, so why not Ben Solo? In theory, we only saw him briefly, at the end of The Rise of Skywalker (which you could say, could be any number of Skywalkers on screen: Rey, Luke or even Ben), fighting the Knights of Ren and Palpatine with Han Solo-esque charm. He then disappeared like Obi-Wan, becoming one with the Force after giving his life to save Rey. Most importantly, he didn’t appear to Rey at the end of the movie, only Luke and Leia did. They are part of a dyad, so why not have him re-appear on the other side of the galaxy? He’s devoted to the Light side of the Force now, his anger, scars, and presumably his child-like attitude all disappear. He starts going through the universe as a force for good, a true Jedi (with a new lightsaber he can build). Perhaps Rey can sense him once again. Add that to rumors across the galaxy of some new Jedi fighting First Order remnants, she could go off looking for him. Let’s get that Lucasfilm/Disney machine fired up!
• Q’mir is the Knight of Ren:
A certain vocal group of fans destroyed The Acolyte before it had begun screening. This left a tremendous Jedi conspiracy to be left unchecked; namely blocking the information that the Sith are back and killing Jedi almost 100 years before The Phantom Menace. It also left the story of the Sith unfinished! When we last left off, Q’mir had quickly killed a bunch of Jedi, including Master Sol (leaving him to posthumously shoulder the blame for the whole Osha/Mae fiasco). He likes to go shirtless into bogs and act like a clueless fool to get what he wants. As a result, he was able to fool Mae into thinking he was just an assistant to her while she killed Jedi on her own personal list. However, we do know that Q’mir had a master, identified later on as Darth Plagueis (who we see briefly).
Recently, creator Leslye Headland said that Q’mir is the first Knight of Ren. Y’know, those dark side wannabes who hung out with Kylo Ren (him again)? Since The Acolyte is some 100 years before our saga begins, there has to be some speculation involved. Darth Plagueis won’t take Palpatine as his apprentice for at least another 50 years, so would Osha or Q’mir become the Sith Apprentice during that time? Q’mir is never identified as a Sith. Q’mir has a lot of dark side knowledge and martial skills, plus a nifty Knights of Ren-style helmet. We can speculate at some time he didn’t fit into the Sith Rule of Two motif and split off on his own. He jetted off to the Outer Rim or somewhere and began collecting dark side users. Not quite Sith but scavengers and killers – the Knights of Ren. This would have led them to Crimson Dawn, new Ren in Kylo, Tava Ren, and back to Kylo Ren once again leading them from a position of power in the First Order. It’s interesting to think where this little factoid would lead the entire series and character of Q’mir.
• Star Wars Visions:
Honestly, the only short I’m going to discuss is The Duel: Payback. It is an incredible piece of Star Wars-adjacent material and opens up a whole new realm of story telling possibilities. I really enjoyed The Duel and the character of Ronin. Since it took place in a Star Wars-ified Japanese culture, the story line, background information, etc, could go anywhere. I loved the two comics that came out, and was a little mystified by the book but still really enjoyed it nonetheless. In this newest entry, the Ronin is up against another Sith at first, fighting on overturned AT-AT’s. Then, we hear about THE CRUSADERS!!! Flying in on Clone War-era LAAT’s and Jedi starfighters, we get the impression they’re a fringe religious group headed by a mysterious Grandmaster. The Sith are the dominant group with them spread all over the galaxy (and Ronin coming to kill them and take their red kyber crystals) and Jedi seem to be fractured and unhinged.
Like Darth Vader, the Grandmaster is part machine, part man but obsessed with killing the Ronin (who is responsible for his current state). The first thing I noticed about this guy is that he doesn’t stop smiling – which is part of his cybernetic upgrade, it’s just a mask he wears. Then, we get introduced to special forces Ewoks. And the sound effects and everything is right out of Return of the Jedi! I like the li’l Yakuza crime boss (“hey hey!”) and his Wookie sidekick. The lightsaber action is incredible, with all the players being so fast it borders on teleportation. Also, check out the short “making of” doc on Instagram, it showed a little bit how they made Payback. Similar to the animatic of Boba Fett vs Stormtroopers, it shows the director’s unique vision for such a character of the Ronin, and his live-action animatic has three people fighting with Samurai swords! Excuse me, I need to go watch the whole thing again.
• Revenge of the Sith Deluxe Edition:
I’ve barely even begun to read this thing, but already I know it’s incredible! It’s a thick book which screams special edition. The book is so unique in its storytelling; the red binding says “This is what it is like to be Anakin Skywalker..forever.” It tells you Anakin as Vader is forever burning, in constant pain and trapped in a cyborg body. I mean, geez. I’ve always wanted to know what it’s like as an author to write such an epic and mythologized story, this special edition gives you footnotes galore.
• Doctor Aphra Chaos Agent:
All I got to say about this series is APHRA HAS A SISTER??!! That, and the series is ending. I really hope it’s not the final end for Doctor Aphra!
