Lucasfilm Look for Change Star Wars Expanded Universe with Star Wars Story Group

starwarsexpandedWhen it comes to Star Wars story, there are two sects: the original Star Wars Universe created by George Lucas himself. And then there is the version that others are allowed to change; the expanded universe. Lucasfilm now threatens to challenge all of this as we know it.

As Bleeding Cool tells us:

“George Lucas said that the Star Wars universe exists, essentially, in two versions. There’s his one, and then there’s the one everybody else can play with.

In effect, this meant that anybody writing Star Wars outside of the six main movies (to date) was expected to adhere to one another’s work and create story lines that were consistent with one another.

And then, whenever Lucas himself went on to create a new “core” story for the Saga, he had permission to overwrite or ignore anything from that “Expanded Universe.”

But now, Lucasfilm are looking to rework the system and destroy this hierarchy.”

But what does this even mean? Leland Chee, an employee of the company has been answering questions on Twitter about it and basically explains that Story Group has a hand in all facets of Star Wars storytelling. This will include the movies, TV, games and also publishing. This doesn’t mean scrapping the expanded universe but it’s apparent that Lucasfilm and Disney really want to tie all new Star Wars productions (of any type) into the same continuity and really, this just makes sense.

But as all Star Wars geeks know, the story is sacred and when you start messing around with it, you’re bound to tick some people off. As excited as fans are for the new Star Wars films, people are just as worried that the story is going to get ruined along the way.

And while the movies are considered “official”, we also have the many tie-ins to worry about such as games, books, novels, cartoons or whatever other branding Star Wars stuff they decide to push out with the popularity of the movies.

So now there is going to be canon- and not. There will no longer be a multi-level hierarchy and some fans are, rightfully so, worried about what this means. While no one can say for sure until it’s all said and done, we’re hoping this means good things for the Star Wars story.

What do you think?

Lisa Clark

Lisa has been an avid gamer since she was old enough to hold her first controller and a game writer for more than a decade. A child of the Nintendo generation, she believes they just don’t make games like they used to but sometimes, they make them even better! While consoles will always be her first love, Lisa spends most of her gaming time on the PC these days- on MMOs and first-person shooters in particular.