James Mangold Has a Good Reason for Why His 'Star Wars' Movie Will Work

I love Star Wars! I remember when my older brother was gifted the original trilogy on VHS for Christmas one year, and I’ve been a fan ever since. The music, the planets, the lasers, and the Jedi all thrill me, even when they aren’t so good. That world is endlessly inviting to me, but I think it works best when it isn’t trying to pay homage to… Star Wars. The original films were love letters to war films, samurai films, and old Flash Gordon serials. Some of the new stuff feels like love letters to the love letters.

The post-Lucas films and shows are best when they aren’t trying to emulate the material that came before them. With something like Obi-Wan, all the pieces were there, but it felt like it was trying to do a remix of what Lucas already did. The result was something that felt more like a photocopy. Meanwhile, something like Skeleton Crew wears its influences on its sleeve, but those influences are 80s films like The Goonies, giving a show that feels more like Star Wars because it’s trying to honor something else (please don’t tell Mike I said any of this, though he is coming around).

Something else that helps Skeleton Crew is that it’s decidedly not connected to a lot of the other story threads currently being pulled in the Star Wars Universe. Yes, there are references to the larger world(s), but the show is remarkably self-contained. There’s still one episode left, anything could happen, but seeing as how a lot of those Jude Law theories have proved false, I’d be surprised if they pulled anything too big in the last chapter. The show will remain unencumbered, and James Mangold wants the same for his foray into the universe.

The Complete Unknown director (a title that is an Abbott and Costello bit waiting to happen) recently sat down with Movie Web and explained why he’s excited about jumping to the galaxy far, far away. In short, he’s going into its past. “The Star Wars movie would be taking place 25,000 years before any known Star Wars movies takes place. It’s an area and a playground that I’ve always [wanted to explore] and that I was inspired by as a teenager,” the director explained. “I’m not that interested in being handcuffed by so much lore at this point that it’s almost immovable, and you can’t please anybody.”

He isn’t wrong about fans being hard to please, but I think he’ll find setting his film in the past won’t change that. Still, his reasoning makes a lot of sense! Having fans tell stories that aren’t attached to bigger lore leaves room for exploration and innovation. We’re more likely to meet new characters we will come to love (Neel) instead of being shown the same ones we’ve known for years doing the same things they’ve always done.

It is possible to tell new stories within lore. Rian Johnson showed us that with The Last Jedi. But, Disney seems decidedly not interested in that. So, if we have to go way to the past (or to a hidden planet) to tell those stories, I’ll take it.