More like The Buy Republic...

The Rise of Skywalker was both the end of the Skywalker Saga and the first time anyone called the Star Wars movies the Skywalker Saga. And since by law, Star Wars can only come in three series of three movies, many fans are asking what now? 

According to the rules the marketing department just made up, making a tenth numbered
Star Wars film would mean that Disney could no longer call it a saga. Their hands are tied.

No judgement here, but do stoners know 
the rest of us think these things are dumb? 

Go outside? Play a sport? Watch a movie that's not part of a long-running, interconnected franchise? Nonsense! Luckily for us, Disney is not going to miss an opportunity to milk one of their most important IP's just because we're totally sick of it. They are, first and foremost, storytellers. Enter Star Wars: The High Republic. An umbrella term under which new Star Wars tie-ins like books, comics, toys and-huh? Yeah, The High Republic, I know. I too predict an uptick in hackneyed and poorly photoshopped Star Wars stoner jokes.

So anyway, The High Republic is an era of the fictional Star Wars universe two hundred years before The Phantom Menace which, according to Starwars.com: "...will not overlap any of the filmed features or series currently planned for production, giving creators and partners a vast amount of room to tell Star Wars stories with new adventures and original characters."

The last thing anyone wants is a confusing story
that contradicts pervious entries in the series...

Pictured: not a committee. 

Ok, so the idea is to allow the writers some creative freedom without bumping into Star Wars canon which, despite the pruning of the Expanded Universe a few years ago, is still pretty damn dense. And the announcement trailer-books have trailers now-makes a lot about how Disney has gathered this big group of sci-fi writing talent together to collaborate on a shared narrative world in which the stories will all connect in a rich tapestry of-wait, does this sound like writing by committee to anyone else?

Sure, collaboration is great, but sometimes too many voices can muddy the waters (and mix the metaphors). Imagine if the people who write Star Wars listened to say, what people on the internet thought. Like, if they just took every crazed fan's suggestions and demands and threw them in a pot in some misguided attempt to try and please everyone. That'd be terrible.

Hmm? Oh, that's just J. J. Abrams at the premier of The Rise of Skywalk-huh?
No, I wasn't saying Episode IX was-ok you got me. I'm like a dog with a bone.

Pictured: concept art for The High Republic
featuring Jedi with lightsabers. Yes again,
but this time one of them is a Wookie. 

Am I being overly critical here? Probably. Definitely. I mean, don't listen to me. The High Republic hasn't even seen the light of day yet. But still, "new adventures with original characters?" I mean, it's still within the Star Wars universe, so it's not that original. And no matter how many writers you lock in a room with a whiteboard, the minute someone from corporate starts telling them they can and can't do things because it won't test well with the key demo or because it might not fit the brand, it ceases to be collaborative art and starts being product.

Who knows? Maybe these books and comics and whatever will be great. Maybe they're just just the thing to pull Star Wars out of its malaise. Still though, I can't help but roll my eyes at the idea that any new Disney Brand Star Wars Content™is going to be anything other than safe and derivative guaranteed money makers.

How dare they compromise the artistic
integrity of Star Wars with crass consumerism!