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Posted: **Fri May 02, 2014 1:19 am**

The existing EU is entirely non-canon; the movies, The Clone Wars, and all future EU content is canon.

In an announcement today, Lucasfilm clarified its approach to the Star Wars canon as we approach the launch of the next trilogy of films. The stories told in the Expanded Universe--which consists of games, books, comics, and so on--has always been considered non-canon, distinguishing it from the main content found in the six movies and the animated Clone Wars series. While elements of the EU have found their way into the main series, series creator George Lucas has made it clear in the past that his works would not be stuck abiding by anything in the EU.

Now, in the wake of The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, changes are being made. With the help of a new story group that will oversee "all Star Wars creative development," today's announcement states that "all aspects of Star Wars storytelling moving forward will be connected."

That means that all Star Wars media released in the future will be part of the official canon, which will continue to disregard anything in the existing EU. New novels from Del Rey Books, as well as the upcoming Star Wars Rebels TV animated series, will be among the first releases to tell new canonical stories. "While the universe that readers knew is changing, it is not being discarded. Creators of new Star Wars entertainment have full access to the rich content of the Expanded Universe."

A Lucasfilm representative confirmed to GameSpot that future game releases will also be canonical. This includes DICE's Battlefront and Visceral's new Star Wars game being written by former Naughty Dog creative director Amy Hennig and Uncharted actor Todd Stashwick. Both games are being published by Electronic Arts, which signed a multiyear deal to produce Star Wars video games in 2013.

The recent delay of the latest expansion for another EA title, Star Wars: The Old Republic, is unrelated to today's announcement. The Lucasfilm rep told GameSpot, "[A]s far as The Old Republic MMO is concerned, nothing is going to change. [TOR] has always been a part of the Expanded Universe, and that's not going to change."

What do you make of these changes to the franchise? Are there any parts of the Expanded Universe you wish were considered canon? Let us know in the comments.

Goodbye Kyle Katarn and Dash Rendar. Goodbye Mara Jade and Thrawn. Goodbye Jacen Solo and Cade Skywalker. Goodbye Darth Revan, goodbye New Jedi Order. Goodbye Yuuzhan Vong, goodbye Palpatine's clones. Goodbye Rogue Squadron and Knights of the Old Republic. Goodbye dead Chewbacca, goodbye alive Boba Fett. You will be missed.

Not that Val cares much about what is and isn't "canon." The butthurt over this is amusing, though.

Posted: **Fri May 02, 2014 1:22 am**

NOT ROGUE SQUADRON

**** YOU LUCAS

Posted: **Fri May 02, 2014 1:31 am**

Well, uh, that's one way to start things off. I hear the EU stuff past RotJ got pretty cluttered and complex, but maybe there was a better way of handling it, such as not setting your new films in that time period. Disney probably views that as too much of a risk though, and I can't really fault them for that. Going into too unfamiliar territory might alienate audiences or something.

Posted: **Fri May 02, 2014 2:33 am**

I hate when a legitimate part of your franchise isn't considered canon. I like that everything moving forward is canon, games included. But what is it basically saying about the past of the series?

Posted: **Fri May 02, 2014 5:30 am**

I don't see why couldn't put some of the EU characters in into the new films or just have them mentioned but they're away somewhere doing something else.

Posted: **Fri May 02, 2014 5:45 am**

What about new content for The Old Republic? Is the game non-canon but the content canon?

Posted: **Fri May 02, 2014 6:37 am**

I understand that they have to make it easy to follow but they have just lost so much great content with this decision. Should of been Joss Whedon in charge of this. The king of the geeks would have sorted this right out.

Posted: **Fri May 02, 2014 6:59 am**

This really does suck. Especially since we had those great stories involving the New Jedi Order and Yuuzhan Vong.

Posted: **Fri May 02, 2014 11:59 am**

All right, maybe I'm just missing something----before, nothing in the old EU was considered canon, and now, it still isn't. So, uh, what's the problem?

Posted: **Fri May 02, 2014 2:11 pm**

^The previous setup meant that EU writers could do pretty much anything they wanted (that didn't defy prior canon) & their stuff could be essentially "canonized" if Lucasfilm incorporated traits of it into later canon stuff, & that fans could treat any EU stuff they wanted as "canon" unless it was directly contradicted by the movies & "Clone Wars" series. This new setup means that EU writers have to get their new ideas approved before publication, & that all previous EU stuff is now completely discarded (even if it had been unofficially "canonized" before by syncing with later official material), so fans pretty much have to reset their EU ideas completely.

TLDR: It used to be "unless we say no". Now it's "only if we say yes."

...Also, it means all of the "Darths & Droids" jokes about Jim playing as Kyle Katarn between main campaigns no longer mean anything. ;)

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

Posted: **Fri May 02, 2014 2:17 pm**

^ Well, when you put it that way, it's kind of a bad thing. But knowing every video game is direct canon from now on is pretty cool, more as a gamer and less as a Star Wars fan.

Posted: **Fri May 02, 2014 10:54 pm**

^^All right, fair enough, but I didn't hear anyone talking about that-----everyone was just going 'ehhhhhh no more itchy and lumpy'. Hence my confusion.

Posted: **Fri May 02, 2014 11:00 pm**

Seems kind of inevitable. I don't know much about the EU, but given the sheer volume I can't imagine it'd be easy to either include it without alienating audiences or to write around it.

Not sure why this would effect the stuff before Episode I unless they're planning to do more prequels as well, though.

Posted: **Sat May 03, 2014 12:05 pm**

[QUOTE="Valigarmander, post: 1460620, member: 30663"]Goodbye Kyle Katarn and Dash Rendar. Goodbye Mara Jade and Thrawn. Goodbye Jacen Solo and Cade Skywalker. Goodbye Darth Revan, goodbye New Jedi Order. Goodbye Yuuzhan Vong, goodbye Palpatine's clones. Goodbye Rogue Squadron and Knights of the Old Republic. Goodbye dead Chewbacca, goodbye alive Boba Fett. You will be missed.[/QUOTE]

[MEDIA=youtube]WWaLxFIVX1s[/MEDIA]

Sorry, it had to be done.

Posted: **Mon May 05, 2014 4:41 am**

Can't we just consider the new films to be non-canon? George Lucas isn't even making them anyway it's Disney.

Posted: **Mon May 05, 2014 11:39 am**

Shadows of the Empire and Dark Forces are the only consistently good things I've ever experienced (from Star Wars). I liked the original trilogy a lot as a kid, but I'm not 12 anymore and I honestly stopped liking everything about it except Hoth, the sarlacc, and Harrison Ford. If they want to disown SW material, it should probably be whatever came in contact with Lucas's sausage-shaped fingers.

All I can say is, I know they won't but they should steer clear of CGI for all the space stuff. The traditional models and animation fx are still less dated than the CGI. You get that, when your entire frickin film is just computer graphics and there's nowhere specific to spend the special fx budget. Practical FX are way cooler, nowadays. Isn't anybody whose opinion's worth listening to that would complain the Pirates movie crews built real ships.

Posted: **Mon May 05, 2014 12:07 pm**

^yes

forever yes, with the practical, photographed special effects where possible----please, disney, follow peter jackson's labour (of love?)-intensive lead, not lucas' lazy 'all i need is computers' method

lordy lou, but every time i see that dang-ass prequel/special edition cgi, i instantly think 'hey, i might swear i was watching star wars----did someone put babylon 5 on when i wasnt lookin?'

also with dark forces and especially shadows love----hhhhhhh, '96 was so long ago, i can barely remember what it was like to think, 'star wars is indefatigable, boy, look at all this rad new lucas content'

...am i crazy here? god damn it, already

Posted: **Mon May 05, 2014 12:25 pm**

Well, most of the problems since the prequels started are in the wishy-washy narrative that doesn't suit the tone of the original series, anyway. I could put up with some dated CGI if there was any realistic hand-to-hand combat or a sense of adventure and unknown anywhere to be found, or the concept of subsistence living in some sort of interstellar dustbelt - like the whole 'truckers turned space freight/technical specialists' vibe going on in the Alien, Abyss, or Starcraft franchises.

The first film starts Skywalker out not knowing anything at all about this crazy space magic or mind control, or even much about the empire beyond it being a sort of distant authority that doesn't get involved in the back-end part of the system until someone tries to hide-out in what is basically space-Tortuga. In fact, he is what appears to be a dirt farmer looking for new robot farm-hands to farm dirt for him - it is very Americana/Western feeling. Almost Trigun-like. You've even got the hostile natives, the saloon where shady deals are made and guns are pulled, etc. We honestly don't need Jedi-Space-Opera stuff to fill this out, we need smugglers double-crossing eachother, human traffickers, alien bounty-hunters. Big-bads should be teased early on, but the full hand should take awhile to setup before it's revealed. It'd be better if the whole stopping-evil was just something that came on later, making this more into an expedition/treasure-hunt-gone-sour sort of scenario. You know, Indiana Jones minding his own business but then the space nazis showed up, and they'll stop at nothing to get his space-orbs.

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