Star Wars’ Heir to the Empire Movie Has a Luke Skywalker Problem
Dave Filoni is reportedly adapting Heir to the Empire for his Star Wars movie, but the film is going to have a big Luke Skywalker problem with fans.
Ever since the fateful day that Ahsoka Tano name-dropped Grand Admiral Thrawn in The Mandalorian, fans have long expected an adaptation of Timothy Zahn’s classic Star Wars Legends novel: Heir to the Empire. But if Dave Filoni is directing an Heir to the Empire movie, he is inevitably going to run into a massive problem with Luke Skywalker. Before the character showed up in Lucasfilm’s Disney+ series, fans accepted he’d be replaced if the story was adapted. Now, however, there is an expectation for the Jedi to appear therein, perhaps in a prominent role.
During Disney’s Investors Day presentation at the height of the pandemic, Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy announced a number of new Disney+ series, including Ahsoka. She then stated that the interconnected series would eventually culminate in a special event series on the streamer. However, as studios allegedly suffer streaming losses, the event has now become a feature film, which means it has even less runtime to work with. The question then becomes, with Ezra Bridger and Ahsoka Tano having a much more significant relationship with the Thrawn character, should the movie even include Luke? If it doesn’t have the story’s original Jedi Master, will fans be even more outraged than they were at the sequel trilogy?
Updated February 13, 2024, by Joshua M. Patton: There is no guarantee that Dave Filoni is even adapting Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire trilogy for his film. While he and other Star Wars storytellers are eager to bring in characters from Legends, they have thus far been resistant to adapting the stories outright. The Ahsoka finale, after all, adds a wrinkle to the story fans are expecting since she and Sabine were left in the galaxy on the other end of the Path to Peridea. Still, if they do hew closely to that story, there will be an expectation to see the most famous Jedi Knight in the New Republic Era. This article has been updated to comport with CBR’s current formatting standards.
Heir to the Empire was about the New Republic and Imperial Remnant vying for power in the galaxy after the Emperor’s death. Talon Karrde, a kind of pirate king, is courted by Han Solo and Lando Calrissian and Thrawn as an ally. Meanwhile, Karrde’s people kidnapped Luke, leading Thrawn to attack everyone. While the original trilogy characters play a big role in the story, Luke is very much at the center of it. Dave Filoni, on the other hand, has at least two more Jedi to work with than Zahn did in his story, meaning there is potentially much less for Luke to do in the story. The themes in Heir to the Empire, after all, are already being explored in The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka.
There is no universe in which a de-aged Luke Skywalker is completely left out of an Heir to the Empire film, especially one directed by Star Wars superfan Dave Filoni. However, Filoni and Lucasfilm’s use of the character will almost certainly alienate some Star Wars originalists. Even so, a one-to-one adaptation of Zahn’s story would leave Ahsoka and Ezra with nothing to do.
Similarly, having Luke be out of touch or on some other off-screen adventure would further annoy fans or, even worse, make audiences think more about the story they aren’t seeing than the one Filoni wants to tell them. The smart bets are on Filoni using Luke in the film just enough to satisfy fans’ inevitable questions while giving “his Jedi” more to do in the fight against Thrawn. To speculate further, Luke might appear much as he did in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, showing up to save the day in the last moments of the story.
Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia Organa can no longer appear in the sequel trilogy of films fans wanted after Return of the Jedi–the unrelenting passage of time has made sure of that. In fact, Zahn’s books, including Dark Force Rising and The Last Command, were that trilogy for that era of Star Wars fans. Modern artificial intelligence technology could make actors look and sound like original characters in new films forever. The use of Peter Cushing’s Tarkin and Carrie Fisher’s Leia in Rogue One wasn’t well-received, raising questions of ethics and avoiding the “uncanny valley.” That being said, it’s almost certain the original trilogy heroes will appear in Filoni’s movie.
Putting aside the ethical dilemma involved, using both the original characters and characters like Ahsoka, Din Djarin, and the live-action Star Wars: Rebels cast would potentially crowd the film. Even the shortened TV series format preferred by Lucasfilm gives storytellers about four more hours of runtime to play with. If Filoni’s movie was still a TV show, the inclusion of Luke, Leia, and Han would make more sense. A series allows for slower, quieter moments to examine characters with depth and nuance. It also allows for expansive storytelling and character- focused digression. A film presents a problem because the characters the story will focus on might not be the characters audiences most want to see.
If Star Wars “Forever” is Lucasfilm’s goal, films like Dawn of the Jedi or Rey Skywalker’s New Jedi Order movie must introduce new characters and concepts. The New Republic era is more capable of leaning into nostalgia, both for the original trilogy and the characters and events of the sequel films. However, if Dave Filoni decides to use Luke Skywalker for Heir to the Empire, it’s going to be a problem for some fans.
