Spoilers ahead for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi
The recent installments in the Star Wars franchise have been polarizing for fans. Aside from Solo: A Star Wars Story which earned meh. reviews, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Last Jedi have earned critical acclaim. However, some fans have different opinions especially with The Last Jedi. The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi both saw apparent deaths of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker respectively. To some, this seems like an audacious move and something to be applauded given the weight of their deaths but respected Star Wars writer, Timothy Zahn is not a big fan of killing off major characters.
Zahn who has written a ton of Star Wars novels has had a great influence in the expanded universe of the franchise having written the acclaimed Thrawn Trilogy. Cinemablend reports on the writer who has a thing or two to say about killing off major characters and he is apparently not a big fan of it. He said:
My philosophy before the sequels came out was that Star Wars was not the kind of thing where you killed off major characters. My logic on that one being if that was, we kill off major characters, either Wedge or Lando would not have survived the second Death Star [in Return of the Jedi]. It always seemed to me, this is the type where the heroes get into danger and you have to, they have to figure out a way out of it that you’ll be happy at the end.
Well, Star Wars has always been about hope and good triumphing over evil and this sense of hope has always provided fans a sense of child-like wonder that few film series have been able to capture. However, by exploring the more darker side of things, we are able to fully explore deeper stories in the art form of film. One of the reasons The Empire Strikes Back is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made is because it is darker and well it didn’t really have a happy ending. However, if these characters are not to be killed off, how should we handle them? Zahn has something to say about that:
My vision always for the sequels would be, you would pick up with the children of our main characters. [The original cast] would be the elder statesman type and not necessarily die on camera. They’d be off doing beekeeping like Sherlock Holmes allegedly did. You don’t have to kill off a character to get them offstage.
Yeah, having them do their own little thing like mowing the lawn in the comfort of their own homes does sound plausible and it does seem weird that the only way to truly end a character in a franchise is to kill them which is honestly pretty stupid. However, with this approach, there’s a chance that some Star Wars fans may not be too fond of it. Creators definitely have a tight rope to thread when it comes to appeasing the large Star Wars fanbase. Good luck J.J. Abrams!
Source: Cinemablend
