“We’re going to redefine longform storytelling,” a Lucasfilm employee told Devin Faraci at Badass Digest, a comment that will be seen by super-fans of the franchise as something to look forward to. Faraci adds to the comment writing:
For the first time in franchise history, the arc of the new trilogy is planned out in advance. They’re taking this story someplace, not just picking up the loose ends and figuring out where to go next with each new film. Even with the Prequels, which had a predetermined ending, Lucas was kind of making it up as he went along.
That longform vision alone is exciting. But what’s more, they’re going to weave this story through cartoons and books and comics, making every piece of side story count. Star Wars has too long been a central series of movies surrounded by absolutely disposable books, comics and games. No more. You won’t have to know that stuff to follow the main story, but if you do know that stuff you’re going to be rewarded. As a nerd I like knowing that stuff, and I like knowing it counts.
Knowing I won’t be watching any cartoons or reading Star Wars comics and/or books I’m not sure how much this new “longform vision” affects me. Faraci continues saying, “It’s all going to matter.” Matter to whom? I guess, is the real question.
While Faraci suggests you won’t need to pay attention to the peripheral stuff to stay up to date on the main story of the new trilogy or those upcoming standalone films, will subtle nuances be missing for those of us that stick strictly to the movies?
We’ll only know once we get deeper into this new twist in the franchise and I don’t think J.J. Abrams‘ Star Wars: Episode VII will give us too many clues unless the new “Star Wars: Rebels” cartoon holds information that could prove valuable to the start of Abrams’ film. I guess I’ll never know, or at least not until I write my review and someone in the comments tells me how stupid I am for not having watched the cartoon. Such is life.
