With yet another blockbuster intellectual property in mind Andor’s critical success for both the streaming platform and the Star Wars property as a whole provides a taste of the possibilities that the Old Republic may provide to a TV series, which may seem like an exhausting concept given Disney+’s current fast pace. That’s in addition to the benefit of being substantially removed from the Skywalker Saga heritage.
No series needs to be darker and more serious to be fundamentally better, but the degree of suspense and drama seen in Cassian Andor’s grim origin narrative should be a seamless fit somewhere inside the literal thousands of years worth of history in Star Wars’ distant past.
In the Old Republic, there’s no lack of Jedi, Sith, interplanetary factions, political intrigue, and more that could provide Disney+ and Lucasfilm a massive and long-running Game of Thrones-level drama to keep people drawn in season in and season out.
An Abundance of Wonderful Things May Be Found in the Old Republic.
One of the major advantages that author George R. R. Martin’s dark fantasy epic is reaping — so far — on the small screen is having a trove of information from the past to pick from. House of the Dragon, to the surprise of no one, is proving to be a mammoth success for HBO despite the maligned final season of the flagship series, and that’s in part because it takes place far enough back into the past to stand on its own merits while still being recognizably similar to what made the majority of Game of Thrones so revered.
Similarly, Star Wars has a plenty of written material to choose from despite Lucasfilm’s stubborn refusal to expand beyond the Skywalker family. There’s no denying that fan favorites like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and others are a big part of what makes Star Wars so successful, but eventually the studio will have to move on. Since it has its own extensive timeframe, The Old Republic is one of the greatest ways to achieve this, and it allows potential creative teams a way out of sticking to the traditional Skywalker bloodline.
There are undoubtedly well-liked tales set during the Old Republic era that are only found in the Legends continuity. Even while many diehard Star Wars fans would immediately think of BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic games as a model for the impending PlayStation 5 remake, we still don’t know what areas the developers will focus on. But there’s more than enough capacity to explore innumerable new stories if writers and filmmakers so wish while still drawing inspiration from previous ones.
There is a wealth of material that might be developed into interesting television drama, including as the Galactic Republic’s all-out battle against the Sith Empire, the resistance movement of the Mandalorian warrior nations, and the infighting within the Sith.
A Lot of What We Know About Political Intrigue Today Comes from Andor.
The political aspect of Andor is already amazing, even if the program is still in its early stages with only 11 episodes of its projected 24 (to be divided evenly across two seasons). Spy thrillers are a natural match for this component of the plot, but as Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon demonstrate, even fantasy novels with a more straightforward emphasis may benefit from a dash of intrigue.
Andor has an HBO flavor to it in terms of the political intrigue stemming from its espionage-focused background, which may get old to some, but it is certainly true. While it would be a surefire way to fail to attract an audience, trying to copy what HBO has done with Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is, Andor demonstrates how delicately this appeal may be done on its own.
This epoch has both the Jedi and the Sith at the forefront of in-universe significance, therefore the template could conceivably be implemented on a wider scale through an Old Republic TV series on Disney+, with the politics and conflict on a little more open a scale. It would be fascinating to watch stories from both the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire’s points of view, which may be quite similar to one another.
Serialized Drama
Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, and now Andor — each for their own distinct reasons — are continuing proof that the audience is still eager for long-form, serialized dramas with branching plots. While clearly not as simple to efficiently execute as it would appear on paper, the Old Republic contains all of the moving components to build an overarching plot that can continue for multiple seasons. Well-written and deep casts of characters with unique motivations and tantalizing political intrigue would be enough to keep discourse alive.
As betrayals among the Jedi, and especially the Sith, may be tremendous resources for story inspiration, they are not foreign to the Star Wars world. The idea of seeing Darth Bane destroy the “establishment Sith” to build his new order with the Rule of Two in place alone would make for an enticing premise, an exciting villainous perspective, and at least a few seasons of storytelling.
The Mandalorian, the flagship series on the platform and produced by Lucasfilm, is set to return for a third season in 2019. The series works best in the theater, and television has become oversaturated in recent years; but, with Star Wars returning to the big screen, the studio may be able to prioritize quality over number in its television productions.
When The Mandalorian’s micro MCU-like area of the galaxy concludes, an Old Republic series may get the lion’s share of the limelight on television to develop and grow as it sees fit.
