Skyler Orton
If you talk to any Star Wars fan for an extended period of time it’s clear that the saying “no one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans” couldn’t be more true. No matter what the creatives at Lucasfilm do it’s sure to upset someone.
The only project that fans uniformly agree is good is the excellent Andor but even that has its detractors who complain that it’s too “adult” or “political” for the franchise. With all of that it’s clear that the franchise needs a new direction and I think it’s clear what it should be.
What is The Old Republic
For fans who aren’t familiar with this era of the Star Wars universe, The Old Republic is an era that spans thousands of years going roughly from 25,000 BBY to 1,000 BBY. That’s obviously an enormous range of time but most of that time has never been adapted in any Star Wars media.
Most of our time in this era is seen in the beloved Knights of the Old Republic duology that was created by Bioware in the early 2000s. There is also a MMORPG titled The Old Republic that still has a healthy community of fans today. These are the most recognizable properties from this era but there’s a whole universe out there that’s waiting to be explored.
This era has some of the most interesting galactic dynamics of any piece of Star Wars media. I don’t want to give much away because the whole era is worth a deep dive (especially those original two games) but there’s a lot that makes this time period special. From galaxy-wide Mandalorian-driven wars to the most terrifying Sith lords in Star Wars history (do a quick google of Darth Nihilus) the era really has everything.
Why now?
Ever since The Rise of Skywalker flopped with fans in 2019 Star Wars has been in a bit of a strange spot with. A huge part of this is the sudden abandonment of theatrical projects in order to focus on television shows for the then brand new Disney+. These have been very inconsistent to say the least. For every success like the first two seasons of The Mandalorian or Andor, there’s a huge flop like The Book of Boba Fett or The Acolyte.
I think that the series needs a fresh start of sorts and going thousands of years back in history might be just what the franchise needs to stay relevant.
Most importantly I think that if Lucasfilm decides to go back to The Old Republic it needs to be theatrical. Undeniably this era is epic in scale in a way that crunchy early 2000s graphics couldn’t exactly convey. A theatrical Old Republic set story would have the grand scale that the story deserves.
There are countless galactic wars across unexplored planets that deserve to be explored now. Some of my favorite planets in the entire franchise like Dantooine, Korriban, and Nar Shedda are only really touched on in this era. And that’s a shame since they have some of the most interesting landscapes and worldbuilding in the franchise. Most importantly they deserve to be explored in official canon.
The canon issue
If you’re unfamiliar with the intricacies of Star Wars canon here’s a quick rundown on why this could be problematic for an Old Republic revival. After Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 it made the very controversial decision to do a timeline reset later in 2014. It relegated the old Expanded Universe content to an alternate canon called Legends where everything Disney made after 2014 was considered official canon. This decision is still heavily debated today and it’s not hard to see why.
Unfortunately, this means that every piece of Old Republic media isn’t technically canon to the currently existing Star Wars universe. There have been hints that it could be canon such as references to worlds like Korriban or characters like Darth Revan but as a whole it’s been left in a state of limbo. The games take place thousands of years before what’s been explored in canon so there’s nothing contradictory in them. It’s simply still in a weird state with what Disney is willing to explore.
Things may be changing
There are signs that Disney is becoming more willing to recognize the Old Republic era in canon. For starters a remake of Knights of the Old Republic was announced all the way back in 2021 and is supposedly still in development despite reports of a so-called “development hell.” If that’s ever released and does well it may be a good way to introduce the story to canon and most importantly to a new generation of fans.
There was recently a new development that is even more promising for fans of the era. At the 2025 Game Awards a trailer was released for a brand new game titled Fate of the Old Republic. I can only assume that this title will be canon to Disney’s Star Wars and it’s a promising step forward. No matter what, a high profile game like this will only bring more eyes on the time period and hopefully encourage Disney to invest more.
Will we ever see the Old Republic on the big screen?
I tend to be a bit of a pessimist but I do think that now is more likely than ever before that we will see the Old Republic get recognized in a major Star Wars project. Disney clearly recognizes fan demand for more stories in the era as is seen by the two in development games.
I also think it’s clear that Disney doesn’t quite know what to do with the franchise. Just see this infographic of all announced projects. Obviously many of these could be canceled but it’s clear Disney is throwing every possible idea at the wall and seeing what sticks. So while they’re taking risks they may as well invest in this great section of the Star Wars universe that already has a built in fanbase, and a huge sandbox for new stories.
