Last week, filmmaker J.D. Dillard announced his Star Wars project is no longer in development, highlighting that Disney still hasn’t figured out what to do with the franchise ten years later. News of films consistently being planned and then canceled are disappointing fans before filming can even begin.

Even when Star Wars does make it to the big screen, every single release in theaters since the Original Trilogy has been met with mixed reviews at best or – more often than not – disappointment, contempt, and hatred at worst. But it’s a totally different story on the small screen. The Mandalorian – the franchise’s first major foray into television – is one of the most popular and praised shows across the world. Now, it’s clear that our only hope for the future of Star Wars is not cinema but TV. Or, more accurately, streaming.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

Shows Are Just as Important to Fans as Movies

     Lucasfilm Ltd.

Shows have proven to be just as important to Star Wars fans as the movies – even more so, in many cases. Star Wars has been on television screens ever since the first (and only) airing of The Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978. After that, some animated projects, such as Ewoks and Droids, were created and even spawned live-action sequels like Caravan of Courage and The Battle for Endor. Though aimed at very young audiences, all this helped expand Star Wars away from the big screen early on.

The first real expansion of the Star Wars universe through television was Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars in 2003. Set and released between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Clone Wars quickly developed a loyal following to this day and changed the franchise. Setting up major events like Anakin’s Knighthood and characters like General Grievous, Clone Wars displayed the impact shows can have on the films and have equally important stories that are better told in episodes than movies.

Of course, Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars led to George Lucas’s and Dave Filoni’s The Clone Wars in 2008, which reached new heights in franchise and fandom. Based on its titular predecessor, The Clone Wars (note the addition) was released after the completion of the Prequel Trilogy and changed everything. Shining the ill-received trilogy in a new light by making the clones more than canon fodder, re-modeling the politics of the war, and even making epic disappoints, like Anakin’s and Padme’s dead onscreen chemistry (“I don’t like sand”), into a beautiful romance, The Clone Wars proved that shows can change anything if the creators take enough time to make the story worth it.

Without even mentioning how The Clone Wars has changed the face of Star Wars with fan-favorites like Ahsoka Tano getting her own series, with this show’s success came The Mandalorian. It needs no further explanation of the impact one show can have on a franchise. All other planned series have been coming to fruition and delighting fans when the films disappointed them.

Shows Succeed Because the Stakes Are Small

     Disney+

Star Wars succeeds on the small screen because the stakes are small. The Mandalorian is about a man making his way across the vast galaxy in weekly adventures with his impossibly ugly-but-cute son. Andor is a drama with a pace slower than a Jawa Sandcrawler yet delivers a brilliant, engaging, refreshing story that could not be told in two and a half hours max. The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Bad Batch all tell little stories of little people on a little screen – and become important to us.

The expectations are small as well. Obi-Wan Kenobi may or may not have worked better as a single movie in theaters, but because the show focused on story and much of it would have to be cut to fit the movie format, it probably would’ve become another legacy-character bomb like Solo. Solo would have been better as a six-part miniseries that would’ve instantly bombed, that we could write and discuss for weeks even after we learn that Maul’s still kicking his robotic legs, and could’ve continued Han’s story beyond his origin.

Instead of every episode needing to satisfy our every little whim, shows can focus on telling us a good story, and we can tune in next week if we didn’t like this part. And if we did like it, which is more often the case, we can discuss and focus on that for a week and then do it all over again.

Star Wars Can Remain on TV As Long As Necessary

Star Wars doesn’t need to be on the big screen to be a cultural phenomenon; Baby Yoda ahem Grogu proves that literally everyone still pays attention even when Star Wars isn’t in theaters every December.

The franchise can literally go on forever with this format and seems to be going this way anyway. With the potential of unlimited stories in a big, big galaxy, and all-in-one convenient Disney+ service, fans won’t get burned out by constricted films – they can be satisfied.

A new hope for Star Wars isn’t on the silver screen in theater; it’s on the small screen at home.