The movie side of the franchise took a hit just as we were about to get a new Star Wars show in the form of Andor. The film, which was supposed to be directed by Wonder Woman, has been pulled off the schedule. It looks like a new Star Wars movie won't be released until December 25th, if at all.
The cinematic side of George Lucas' sci-fi franchise has gone through some challenges. After a change of directors from Phil Lord and Chris Miller to Ron Howard, Disney's plans for solo films for Obi-Wan and Boba Fett were put on hold. Maybe even Jabba the Hutt. There has been a lot of news about the movies that followed, be it discussions about Rise of Skywalker trying to call do-over after The Last Jedi or Kevin Feige being brought over. The creators of Game ofThrones were going to make a Star Wars movie.
In a movie universe far, far away, things are messy. The expanded media has gotten a chance to thrive in the last couple of years, if there is any silver lining to this. The High Republic books made the most of a time when the Jedi weren't being set up to be wiped out by a nihilistic cultist, by carving out a niche for themselves. The video games we have gotten have been fun, and the comic books have been doing their own thing.
These would make for healthy ways to keep the franchise going, but they are also getting an extra boost from the TV arm. Lucasfilm has put out at least two shows a month since The Mandalorian. Not all of them are as good as their premises initially seem, and on an actor level, the TV side of Star Wars has had its controversies, namely Gina Carano's parted ways with the company after her transphobia was exposed. Even though it is depressing, creating and releasing a Star Wars show seems to be a lot simpler.
It is possible that Star Wars just does away with films completely. The most interesting work is being done on TV anyways. It has been true of Star Trek recently, and that can be true here as well. The franchise had to apologize for the end of Rise of Skywalker because they were constantly trying to go big. It is possible to argue that being a film is important to the experience of Star Wars. The final four episodes of The Clone Wars feel just as good as any movie in the franchise, if not better, since it feels like the episodes could have played in a theater had the Pandemic not occurred. It would be cinematic from its presentation and style instead of how one chooses to consume Star Wars content.
Abandoning the silver screen may be what it takes for a franchise that has had issues with letting go to get over them. It couldn't hurt to experiment and see what works for the franchise.
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