The Star Wars franchise has always attracted loyal fans, but all the new movies and TV shows are proving too much to keep up with – especially when not everything meets the approval of its audience. The difference between viewers and fans of a franchise is simple. Viewers watch casually and only look back to quantify their experience as good, bad, or middle-of-the-road. Fans immerse themselves in the story, the world-building behind it, and the lore keeping it all together. They want to know how connected each project is, like whether the live-action TV show version of a character is similar to its animated origins.
This level of interaction with the content can be gratifying until it becomes overwhelming. Fans may find themselves stretched thin trying to keep all the different narratives together. Disney has struggled to avoid crossing that line for years now, and it appears the House of Mouse still hasn’t learned its lesson. While MCU fans have been experiencing superhero fatigue, Lucasfilm fans are hitting their limit of space adventures. How can a franchise move forward when it hasn’t dealt with its past issues? Disney can start by listening to the fans who are vocal enough to tell them where they’re going wrong.
What Are The New Star Wars Projects?
Lucasfilm has been delivering the goods that Star Wars fans have been hungry to receive. The Mandalorian has been one of the best-received of the Disney Plus projects. The Book of Boba Fett was more controversial, but the series was pivotal in reuniting Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his son / Mandalorian apprentice Grogu (voiced by David Acord). Some of the new Star Wars stories focus on the familiar, like the highly-anticipated Ahsoka series premiering in August 2023. Others – like the critically-acclaimed Andor or the eclectic animated series Visions – bring new characters to the forefront, exploring darker elements of the grander story.
It’s possible these shows have been received well in part because fans are getting tired of recycled stories. They’ve seen the fall of the Old Republic from a variety of perspectives, and want something else. Yet, Lucasfilm is struggling to move on from the familiar. Daisy Ridley has even been rumored as returning as Rey Skywalker for a new Star Wars movie. All this new content is only the tip of the iceberg of what Disney has in store for fans — and that’s the problem.
Disney Is Making Too Much Star Wars Content
Too much content isn’t the only problem Disney is facing. At the heart of the issue, ironically, is the very thing that fans love the most: the interconnectedness of Star Wars. Fan understanding of the prequel trilogy was made deeper with some basic knowledge of the original movies, but it wasn’t required to enjoy or at least the ability to keep up with the story. Nowadays, though, it’s hard to jump into any single Star Wars project without extensive knowledge of what came before and what’s happening consecutively.
Liam Neeson, the actor behind Qui-Gon Jinn, once described the numerous spin-offs as “[taking] away the mystery and the magic.” The Star Wars franchise, like any other, is only as good as the amount of time it gives fans to digest new TV shows and movies. Instead, Disney keeps popping up with something else before viewers can even process what they’ve just seen. It’s a new problem in a long list that fans have with how Star Wars is being handled, joining the ranks of The Nostalgia Argument and debates about the alleged overuse of cute characters for merchandising opportunities. Luckily, all Disney needs to do is read the room and take it down a notch.
It's Better For Disney To Slow Down
There’s a saying about having too much dip on one’s chip. Some might hear this and argue that such an idea is impossible. After all, if the dip is delicious and the chip is sturdy, can there ever be too much? Yet, Disney is proving the validity of this proverb by pushing out too much new Star Wars content at once. The natural solution is slowing down the release of new projects, a realization that Lucasfilm has thankfully come to as well.
For example, multiple new Star Wars movies (one of which allegedly had Kevin Feige teaming up with the Russo Brothers) were recently left on the cutting room floor. It could be a reflection of CEO Bob Iger's promise that Disney will be “better at curating” new projects. Other new shows, like Young Jedi Adventures and Skeleton Crew, are light enough not to overwhelm fans with new lore. Meanwhile, heavier projects, like The Acolyte and season 2 of Andor, aren’t scheduled to premiere until August 2024. Only time will tell if this method of slowing down creates a new trend, or if Disney will slide back into old habits.
Star Wars fans love the franchise, but they’re very specific about what they expect it to deliver. They want what they want, when and how they want it, and any deviation is subject to backlash. Fans who are quick to criticize elements of the story they don’t like have earned them a reputation as a toxic fandom. Still, that doesn’t mean they don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to the amount of new Star Wars movies and TV shows being released at any given time.
On the flip side, many fans are happy with whatever they receive just as long as they get to enjoy it – at home or in the theaters. That doesn’t mean that Disney can continue putting out large amounts of content without giving fans a chance to enjoy the quality of the work. The happy middle has yet to be truly defined. It's not that fans don't want new Star Wars content at all. Disney just has to slow down before it wears out its enthusiastic welcome.