Star Wars is perhaps the most recognizable franchise in the history of motion pictures. Since 1977, George Lucas’ vision of a galaxy far, far away has captivated audiences around the world. Nearly 50 years later, the franchise is growing and is more popular than ever. With the newest event series Obi-Wan-Kenobi streaming now on Disney+, fans get to see what events bridge the gaps between stories.

The gap in chronology paves way for many stories in many mediums. From comics, novelizations, animation and video games, this franchise has exploded into every capacity for storytelling. But what is it at its core that brings fans towards the material in the first place? There is something magical about these stories that keeps fans coming back for more, and more, and more. Well, it all goes back to how George Lucas originally imagined the series. Surprisingly, it wasn’t always about spaceships.

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The Star Wars Space Opera

     20th Century Fox

In an interview with Charlie Rose, George Lucas described what the true meaning of the Star Wars is, more specifically the Skywalker Saga as a whole.

The films are very much about familial bonds, with nine of the Star Wars movies very intricately exploring the Skywalker family. It also ties in with Greek mythology and the idea of a tragic character. Anakin Skywalker is very much the tragic character who falls to the dark side. However, he does not initially go towards this dark power for means of world domination. His initial goal is to save his wife from death, and he is manipulated towards a higher and darker power because the Emperor seized on the young man’s vulnerability.

It’s a family soap opera, I mean ultimately. I mean we call it a space opera but people don’t realize it’s really a soap opera. And it’s all about family problems and all that, it’s not about spaceships.

These stories also have characters that are relatable and lovable. We could all see ourselves as the young Luke Skywalker looking up into the twin suns of Tatooine seeking something more. We want to be in the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo and Chewbacca. It has all, however, been a fantasy. That is until Disney brought the world of Star Wars to the theme parks and fans could actually experience these events and interact with the world first hand.

The Disney Brand

     Walt Disney World

Disney as a corporation is responsible for expanding the Star Wars brand and making it as widespread as possible. In addition to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disney theme parks, the immersive Galactic Starcruiser hotel experience, a two-day resort adventure, opened in March 2022. Disney is bringing the galaxy to a place not so far, far away. Fans of all ages could revisit their childhood and experience what it’s like to be in the world they grew up loving, thanks to films from either from 1977, 1999 or even in 2005.

In addition to the theme park locations, merchandise, and interactive experiences, Disney also has nearly every Star Wars story on their streaming platform. Disney+ gives audiences the opportunity to experience stories they may not have before. The newest generation living during the sequel era could experience the original trilogy if they had not seen it before, or die hard original trilogy fans could experience the entire saga in chronological order. Disney has also completed the final season of the series The Clone Wars, and created original Star Wars series for Disney+, including the enormously popular The Mandalorian, all containing something special for fans.

The Generational Appeal of Star Wars

Three different generations have claim to one distinct trilogy of the Skywalker Saga. Kids of today are seeing the final three films of an already established saga of tremendous financial and critical success. However, back in the early days of the franchise, the fans were growing with the original trilogy. Until the prequels were released, there was not much content aside from the three original films.

The Star Wars prequel trilogy has seen its fair share of both criticism and praise. Regardless of opinion, they continued the series by establishing opportunities for many new stories. But back in 1999 when The Phantom Menace was released, the fandom had grown nearly 20 years older, and their love for the original films often led to some apopleptic first reactions, though often strengthened the force between fans regardless. The prequel audience were really those kids seeing Star Wars in the theaters for the first time, just as the generation did before them. That prequel generation is now fully grown and has shared their growing admiration for Lucas’ prequel trilogy. During press for the Obi-Wan-Kenobi series, Ewan McGregor showed his admiration for the grown fans of the prequels:

I was 6 or 7 when [Star Wars] came out. I’ll never forget that feeling and how my relationship with Star Wars, all those original first three films, that’s one of the crazy things about being in Star Wars at all … Once those kids who were my age when the prequels came grew up a bit and I was able to meet them, I started hearing that people really liked them and they started to understand why I thought people didn’t like them when they came out … It’s nice to be here.

Another huge contributing factor to the continuing success of the franchise is social media. We now have the ability to interact with Star Wars fandom at any time of day. The growing social media space also allows for trailers and promotional content to be shown to the widest audience possible. McGregor took to Instagram to thank the true fans of the franchise and the new hit Disney+ series:

While the purpose of the message was to thank the fans, he also noted his support for Moses Ingram, who portrays Inquisitor Reva aka the Third Sister. Ingram was the subject of harmful and racial attacks via social media. The Star Wars community rallied around Ingram and utilized the growing digital platforms to stop acts of racism from harming the Star Wars fandom.

This weekend, Star Wars fans made Obi-Wan-Kenobi the most Disney+ original series premiere of all time … It just goes to show what this family can do when we all pull together.

Fandom

     Star Wars Celebration

The Star Wars fanbase is quite vocal when it comes to the sanctity of the franchise. The growing fanbase also has the opportunities to meet and share their love of the saga in a variety of ways. The annual Star Wars Celebration was hosted from May 26th - 29th in Anaheim California. Also, the annual observation of Star Wars day on May the 4th brings a slew of content, conventions, and celebration for the story.

With all the content Star Wars and Disney are bringing to fans around the globe, it is safe to say that the franchise will be living on for generations to come. With new orignial series and films slated for future released, there is endless story potential. It will be a tradition passed on, mirroring how the ways of the force had been passed on, from Qui-Gon-Jinn to Obi-Wan-Kenobi to Luke Skywalker then finally to Rey. Who knows where the twin suns will take these characters and the audience in the not-too-distant future.