The best 'Star Wars' series is one that we will never see. George Lucas planned more than 400 episodes

Yes, indeed. It is now official: even the craziest Star Wars fans are a little tired of a galaxy far, far away, and it is totally logical. In the end, the overdose of Disney+, between The Mandalorian, Ashoka, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Book of Boba Fett, The Acolyte, and the animated series has been enough to strip the saga of its epicness. And the worst part is that a few years ago they had the opportunity to change everything… but they didn’t want to. A very, very distant underworld Although we have now gotten used to Star Wars, there was a time when it was […]

Yes, indeed. It is official: even the craziest Star Wars fans are a little tired of a galaxy far, far away, and it is totally logical. In the end, the overdose of Disney+, between The Mandalorian, Ashoka, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Book of Boba Fett, The Acolyte, and the animated series has been enough to strip the saga of its epicness. And the worst part is that a few years ago they had the chance to change everything… but they didn’t want to.

A very, very distant underworld

Although we have now gotten used to Star Wars, there was a time when it was not like that. In 2005, the same year that George Lucas presented Revenge of the Sith, he announced that he was preparing a series based on Star Wars, and what a series it was! I warn you that the more you know about it, the more frustrated you will be that we will never get to see it.

The director himself announced that he considered it “a different way of making movies”, and that he was working on a process to reduce the budget and make about 100 episodes… for now. In total, it is said that up to 400 chapters of Star Wars: Underworld were planned.

In fact, Lucas hired a good handful of screenwriters to tell stories that took place between Episode III and Episode IV, and up to 50 episodes were written, which began to be developed… until five years later, the director had to acknowledge that the budget had gotten out of hand.

And it’s a shame because everything we know about the project sounds great: fun, with action, lots of dialogue, and a multitude of interconnected characters in a kind of noir film. Oh, yes, and set on Coruscant.

After all, between Episode III and IV is when the Empire rises to power and it is more interesting to know about the suburbs, what is brewing behind the Jedi, the Sith, and the Galactic Senate. After all, Star Wars has hundreds of characters that have never had the time to be further explored, scattered throughout the galaxy and the Shared Universe: novels, video games, comics, etc.

This was a golden opportunity to, before getting into the sequel trilogy, tell all the stories that had been left behind. And in terms of tone, they compared it to The Godfather and Deadwood, so they were not aiming low: a more mature, darker, and serious Star Wars, but full of action. Just the opposite of what we ended up having.

And what happened? Well, what you imagine: dozens of people, hundreds of visual effects, hundreds of sets… And in the end, the money wasn’t enough for all that. However: various subsequent projects have been borrowing from here and there, recycling ideas from the series.

For example, the video game The Force Unleashed, Star Wars: Rebels, The Force Awakens, Rogue One, or even cultural products outside the galactic universe, like God of War (yes, I promise you) or Rebel Moon. The cancellation of this series, which promised to be everything that Star Wars doesn’t give us now, is one of the biggest disappointments in George Lucas’s career, but it did achieve something very important.

Lucas wanted to make television for less money than a movie, but that looked just as spectacular… And he already announced that the technology would take time to arrive. In the end, he did it: Stagecraft, which makes everything much cheaper. Sadly, it arrived too late: enough for us to have to put up with The Mandalorian. George, don’t you feel like trying Underworld again?

The critics are hating The Mandalorian and Grogu and that could mean the end of Star Wars

Disney has acknowledged that they are having trouble reaching the young audience. Star Wars appeals to the audience over 30 years old, but it seems that it no longer captures the attention of children as it used to. If we add to that the fact that the series are performing much worse than they expected, it seems they have a creative crisis on their hands. Especially considering that it has been seven years since we had a new Star Wars movie, leading to the thought that this very, very distant universe may be in crisis. Especially because The Mandalorian and Grogu have been openly despised by the […]

Disney has acknowledged that they are having trouble reaching the young audience. Star Wars appeals to the audience over 30 years old, but it seems that it no longer captures the attention of children as it used to. If we add to that the fact that the series are performing much worse than they expected, it seems they have a creative crisis on their hands. Especially considering that it has been seven years since we had a new Star Wars movie, leading one to think that this very, very distant universe may be in crisis. Especially because The Mandalorian and Grogu has been openly despised by critics.

A Movie with Little Sense

The Mandalorian is a series that, upon its release, was highly appreciated. Directed by Jon Favreau, it knew how to do everything a science fiction franchise needs today to be relevant. Having a charismatic character, an adorable pet that people want to cuddle, making an intelligent mix of genres, and having a hopeful tone more anchored in adventure than anything else. A winning formula that has systematically worked in recent years, as Project Hail Mary has demonstrated.

In fact, the first two seasons were a great success. Both critics and audiences greatly enjoyed the adventures of the Mandalorian and Grogu, affectionately dubbed Baby Yoda by the public. The problem is that in the third season, things started to go awry. The critics were less than enthusiastic about an erratic season that seemed unclear about where it wanted to go, and the audience responded in a similarly lukewarm manner: the numbers were not terrible, but they were not those of the first two seasons. And the public discourse was not as enthusiastic as in the first two seasons, beginning to show signs of fatigue.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is a conclusion for the series in the form of a movie. With everyone involved in it, it aims to be a big celebration for the fans. But the question is, are there still fans of The Mandalorian to justify it? And above all, does it make sense as a movie?

It seems that the answer, especially for the second part, is no. The critics have slammed the movie, accusing it of being like an extended episode, but worse produced, without really being satisfying in any possible sense. Except for the aspects where there have never been complaints. The Mandalorian is great, Grogu is adorable, and the music is excellent, but the CGI, the action, and the aesthetics do not seem like those of a movie, with a quality far below what one would expect from a high-budget film. Not to mention a production from Disney. Especially from a series that stood out precisely for the care of all these aspects.

A galaxy far, far away that does not excite

That criticism and the audience do not always go hand in hand is not something unknown. But with The Mandalorian and with Star Wars, in general, there tends to be some overlap. Something that is not good news for Disney, even with extremely pessimistic projections from experts.

According to analysts, the movie will make 80 million dollars in its first four days of screening. An excellent figure for any other movie, but disastrous for a Star Wars film: no movie in the franchise has ever made less than 100 million. Some of them have been considered failures because of this. Something that suggests that The Mandalorian and Grogu may be the beginning of something that was already being noticed in the series. People may not be as into Star Wars as they were ten years ago.

The numbers after its premiere, in any case, have been somewhat better than expected. With 12 million dollars on its first day, forecasts have now increased to 90 million. Does this mean that The Mandalorian and Grogu is on its way to being a surprise success? No. It means it could be a smaller failure than expected. But unless it ends up making much larger numbers, it seems that it will spawn a conversation that no one wants to have. That perhaps Disney is exhausting its franchises.

Perhaps the audience is no longer there. They are tired of Star Wars. It has been decades of the same franchise, of cultural supremacy, and not always quality that lives up to the myth. It is possible that it just needs a break or to find the right key. It is impossible to know. Perhaps, yes, Star Wars is exhausted and is no longer as interesting as before. But what seems evident is that The Mandalorian and Grogu are no longer as captivating as in their first two seasons. And Disney must start to consider what they are doing with Star Wars.

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'The Mandalorian and Grogu' premieres still below expectations, and box office analysts are nervous

Although some of us (I admit) find it hard to understand why The Rise of Skywalker grossed over 1 billion dollars at the global box office, the truth is that seven years have passed, and many things in between: the audiovisual landscape has changed completely and the arrival of Disney+ has turned Star Wars from an event into a mere habit. And of course, it has completely dampened the premiere of The Mandalorian and Grogu, which is far from being “grand.” From bad to worse For now, we only have data from […]

Although for some (I admit) it is hard to understand why The Rise of Skywalker grossed over 1 billion dollars at the global box office, the truth is that seven years have passed, and many things in between: the audiovisual landscape has completely changed and the arrival of Disney+ has made Star Wars go from being an event to becoming a mere habit. And of course, it has completely dampened the release of The Mandalorian and Grogu, which is far from being “a grand affair”.

From bad to worse

For now, we only have data from the previous passes, which have grossed 12 million dollars. And what does that mean? For now, nothing, but it is important to note that Han Solo: A Star Wars Story grossed 14.1 million in the same period, so things do not look good for this television spin-off. It is true that it is almost impossible for, as happened with that one, The Mandalorian and Grogu to lose money thanks to its tight budget, but everything will depend on the word-of-mouth from the audience.

For every action, there is a consequence, and in the case of Disney, which has decided to live large during the franchise era, this is to endure the devaluation of its brand. There was a limit that has been greatly exceeded, and now the only question is whether the weekend will manage to place the spin-off of The Mandalorian in a privileged enough position to surpass Han Solo. This, I assure you, is not what they expected.

There is no other family movie until Toy Story 5, and that might save it, but right now box office fans (and there are some, it’s a whole science) don’t really know what to expect from this weekend which, quietly, will mark the future of Star Wars. If we’re lucky, the future of all franchises. Let’s cross our fingers.

After the bad reviews, 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' could be the biggest failure in the history of 'Star Wars'

With a 60% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, The Mandalorian and Grogu barely escape being a flop. It hasn’t helped that an audience already somewhat hesitant to see the movie has encountered a divided critique regarding the new installment of Star Wars. Honestly: having seen it, I can confirm that it is as entertaining and fun as it is forgettable, a weekend snack, an old-fashioned summer movie. But of course, in times of great competition, perhaps that is not enough. In a failure that is very, very close… Talk […]

With a 60% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, The Mandalorian and Grogu barely escapes a failing grade. It hasn’t helped that an audience already somewhat hesitant to see the movie has encountered a divided critique regarding the new occurrence of Star Wars. Honestly: having seen it, I can confirm that it is as entertaining and fun as it is forgettable, a weekend snack, an old-fashioned summer movie. But of course, in times of great competition, perhaps that is not enough.

In a very, very close failure…

Talking about success or failure with a movie like The Mandalorian and Grogu is very relative. After all, the movie is the cheapest in the saga since 2005 (not adjusted for inflation) with only 165 million dollars. This looks different considering that, according to box office projections, it is expected to gross 80 million in the United States and another 80 overseas in its opening weekend. Yes, it is very low for a Star Wars movie, but it will recover the money spent and yield some profit by the end of its run. Not too bad.

If it manages to reach that figure, it will improve upon what is currently the worst opening of the saga, Solo: A Star Wars Story, which had to settle for 155 million worldwide during its opening weekend. That one ended up, by the way, taking in 392 million and was considered such a flop that they immediately halted all the spin-offs they had planned to accompany the new trilogy. What will happen with The Mandalorian and Grogu after the relative failure? It’s still up in the air.

It should be noted that The Mandalorian and Grogu has no competition, at least until June 5, with the premiere of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and Scary Movie. Perhaps, after all, it can scrape together a few more dollars based on nostalgia, and hopefully, good word-of-mouth even from those who were completely fed up after the third season of the series. That’s the way.

The new Star Wars game and the one from the Call of Duty designer have something in common: a mysterious company funding them

Star Wars has a new RPG in the works. Although its release date is still a long way off, its announcement at the recent 2025 Games Awards caused a great stir. And it was for good reason. Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic is a sequel to the beloved RPG saga Knights of the Old Republic, created by Bioware, which was a hit during the 2000s. At the same time, the creative designer of Call of Duty: Black Ops, David Vonderhaar, has opened a studio called BulletFarm where he will create a spiritual successor to the popular game in the franchise […]

Star Wars has a new RPG in the works. Although its release date is still a long way off, its announcement at the recent 2025 Game Awards caused quite a stir. And it was for good reason. Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic is a sequel to the beloved RPG saga Knights of the Old Republic, created by Bioware, which was a huge success during the 2000s.

In turn, the creative designer of Call of Duty: Black Ops, David Vonderhaar, has opened a studio called BulletFarm where he aims to create a spiritual successor to the popular game from the Activision Blizzard franchise.

An unknown company, but less than it seems

What do these two games have in common? At first glance, nothing. We don’t know where the funding for either of them comes from. Until now. Because it has been discovered that the one financing the games of both studios is GreaterThanGroup, a business conglomerate previously unknown. But it is led by someone who is not unknown at all: Simon Zhu.

If the name doesn’t ring a bell, that’s normal. Simon Zhu was the president of NetEase until he left the company in 2025. During this time, he has been working to raise capital through investors to create his own company, GreaterThanGroup, where he can work freely on developing the games he believes in.

It’s not that Zhu lacks experience precisely. He is behind recent successes like Marvel Rivals or Where Winds Meet, demonstrating that he has a good eye for spotting trends.

And starting with designers of beloved franchises like Star Wars and the designers of Black Ops shows that it not only aimsto target the Asian audience but also to conquer the Western audience. This is why, in the future, it is important to keep the name GreaterThanGroup in mind.

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No one knows what species Yoda and Grogu are. It is a mystery created on purpose by George Lucas

Let’s be honest: only the biggest Star Wars fans know Grogu by his name. For most of the world, no matter how much they have continued watching The Mandalorian, he has remained Baby Yoda. In one of the smartest moves in the history of the franchise, they decided to keep the character a secret until the series premiere and, when he finally came to light, it was an overwhelming success. That said, why is he known as Baby Yoda and not by the name of his species, in a universe where everything seems compartmentalized? There is a reason […]

Let’s be honest: only the biggest Star Wars fans know Grogu by his name. For most of the world, no matter how much they have continued watching The Mandalorian, he has remained Baby Yoda.

In one of the smartest moves in the history of the franchise, they decided to keep the character a secret until the series premiered and, when it finally came to light, it was an overwhelming success.

That said, why is he known as Baby Yoda and not by the name of his species, in a universe where everything seems compartmentalized? There is a reason for this, and it comes from George Lucas’s original trilogy.

May Baby Yoda be with you

When Yoda first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, back in 1980, the audience fell at the feet of the puppet and he immediately entered the pantheon of mythical Star Wars characters. The problem is that it was not clear where he came from.

Yes, Chewbacca was a Wookiee, Jabba was a Hutt… But what the hell was that green creature? Not knowing was never a decision made by Lucas himself, and the current authors of the franchise have had no choice but to deal with it.

In fact, Lucas wanted to keep it a secret to enhance its mystique. For the director, the character was a kind of “mini-Dalai Lama” but he wanted it to sound Eastern. And “Yoda” achieved that sound perfectly. In fact, finding a body that matched the name was almost impossible, and the art and visual effects director ended up making hundreds of versions and models from which Lucas chose the final one… Deciding not to listen to anyone who said he should give it a place of origin and a species.

The creator himself wanted Yoda to remain a mysterious and magical character: “He has no past. He comes and goes. He is the strange, mysterious, secretive, and subversive figure who enters the movie and leaves at the end.” And if Lucas wanted him to remain a secret, the young people coming in now are not going to reveal it: although Dave Filoni, the current director of the franchise, may have shown Yoda’s native home, he preferred to leave it that way: solving the mystery would ruin his origins and, with them, much of the charm of the character.

It is worth noting that Yoda and Grogu are not the only known members of this species. The most well-known is Yaddle, a Jedi Master during the High Republic era who was killed by Dooku as the last step before turning to the Dark Side.

Her first appearance was in The Phantom Menace and since then she has had various moments in comics, audiobooks, video games, and novels. Another character of Yoda’s species was Vandar Tokare, known only to those who played the legendary video game Knights of the Old Republic, and he is notable for being the only known member of his species to have a surname.

The other two known members are Minch and Oteg, but I don’t blame you if they don’t ring a bell: the former starred in a comic strip where he toyed with the Dark Side, and the latter appeared in the game The Old Republic. The Force has not been with them much beyond that.

"A festival of nods." The first opinions of the new 'Star Wars' movie are not exactly enthusiastic

More and more, film production companies, especially the most well-known ones, do not want to take risks with their most popular titles, and that is why they set two deadlines for the press: one, where they can use social media to share their first impressions (which are usually positive, even with the excitement of having attended an event or with the obligation to elaborate in very few lines); and another, the actual review where the nuances finally come in. However, with The Mandalorian and Grogu, the tactic has worked out moderately for them. In a galaxy far, far away… Among the first […]

More and more, film production companies, especially the more well-known ones, do not want to take risks with their most popular titles, which is why they set two deadlines for the press: one, where they can use social media to share their first impressions (which are usually positive, even with the excitement of having attended an event or the obligation to elaborate in very few lines); and another, the review itself where the nuances finally arrive. However, in The Mandalorian and Grogu, the tactic has worked out moderately for them.

In a galaxy far, far away…

Among the first reactions to the new Star Wars, there has been a mix, with very enthusiastic audiences, like Erik Davis, who stated that “It’s a fun and strange journey through the galaxy. I love that. It reminded me of how fun Star Wars can be when it stops worrying about canon and goes wild. If you’re going to see it as a Saturday morning pulp matinee, you’re going to have a great time“. Note that even in positive reactions, there are addendums.

Peter Sciretta has also called for calm: “The marketing had worried me, but it’s a lot of fun. Yes, it’s like a few long, high-budget episodes of the series, more like a weekly adventure than a giant galactic story. If you like the series, you’ll love it. If not, you probably won’t“. In this sense, many talk about that inevitable feeling of watching an episode on a grand scale.

But, of course, there are also more dissenting voices than expected, like that of Griffin Schiller, who described it saying “This… is it? An innocuous and technically impressive spectacle that leads to a festival of nodding off. Structured like a short season of the series that sadly ends up feeling like watching scenes from a Star Wars video game instead of playing one.” More harsh is Jonathan Sim, stating that “it is one of the worst Star Wars movies. An emotionless and predictable experience that takes Din Djarin nowhere interesting. Boring and unexciting fight scenes, just CGI monsters. A long, colorless made-for-TV movie“. Next Friday we will finally know who is right. May the Force be with us.

The Mandalorian and Grogu see how their release date approaches and analysts predict a resounding failure

Star Wars returns to theaters with The Mandalorian and Grogu, and analysts do not expect it to be a big success. Forecasts suggest it could have an initial box office of 80 million dollars in its first four days, a very good figure, but absolutely disastrous for a Star Wars franchise film. Especially considering that no franchise release has dropped below 100 million dollars, even those considered failures. A franchise that operates on different levels. The least successful case for Star Wars so far has been that of Han Solo: a […]

Star Wars returns to theaters with The Mandalorian and Grogu, and analysts do not expect it to be a big success. Forecasts suggest it could have an initial gross of 80 million dollars in its first four days, a very good figure, but absolutely disastrous for a Star Wars franchise film. Especially considering that no franchise release has dropped below 100 million dollars, even those considered failures.

A franchise that operates on other levels

The least successful case for Star Wars so far has been that of Han Solo: a Star Wars story, which made 103 million dollars in its first four days. Although it made an acceptable box office of almost 400 million dollars worldwide, a production filled with problems and virtually no enthusiasm from fans led to it being an unmitigated failure for Disney.

In contrast, the last movie released on these same dates, the live-action film of Lilo & Stitch, was an absolute success. Making 182 million dollars over the same four-day holiday weekend, this is the figure they would aim to achieve with Star Wars, given the popularity of The Mandalorian over the years, which has turned both the titular character and Grogu, the wrongly named Baby Yoda, into some of the most popular characters in the franchise.

At Disney, they are confident that they can reverse these numbers before the upcoming May 22, the official worldwide release date of the movie. But perhaps both the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda, after all these years, have simply lost the appeal they once had with the audience.

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Neither The Mandalorian nor Rogue One: Guillermo del Toro wanted to make 'The Galactic Godfather' with a legendary character from Star Wars

Jabba the Hutt’s first appearance in Star Wars was not, as is commonly believed, in Return of the Jedi, but in the Marvel comics based on the first movie released in 1977, where, instead of being a giant slug, he was depicted very differently. Jabba the Hutt was a human with a walrus-like face and a yellow uniform. In fact, his creator, Howard Chaykin, was inspired by a character that appeared in the background of the Mos Eisley cantina and that we now know as Mosep Binneed. Years later, everyone would forget about this […]

The first appearance of Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars was not, as is commonly believed, in Return of the Jedi, but in the Marvel comics based on the first movie released in 1977, where, instead of being a giant slug, he was depicted very differently. Jabba the Hutt was a human with a walrus face and a yellow uniform. In fact, his creator, Howard Chaykin, was inspired by a character that appeared in the background of the Mos Eisley cantina, now known as Mosep Binneed. Years later, everyone would forget about this version of Jabba (and rightly so).

I will make you a galactic offer that you cannot refuse

Although the 1977 novelization only described him as “a huge mass of muscle and fat crowned by a hairy, scarred skull,” he quickly became popular among fans, regardless of the fact that he only appeared for a few minutes throughout the saga (not counting the special editions, of course). So much so that when LucasFilm asked Guillermo del Toro if he had any ideas to revitalize the saga, he did not hesitate to respond that yes, definitely: a spin-off just for Jabba the Hutt.

The movie would be titled The Rise And Fall of Jabba The Hutt and would be a sort of version of The Godfather in the galaxy. However, as the creator himself acknowledges, Disney wasn’t exactly excited: “I was super happy. We were doing a lot of things, but it’s not my property, it’s not my money, and it’s one of those 30 scripts that just disappear“. If someone at Disney knew what they were doing, they would call him back immediately. Guillermo del Toro bringing his personal version of a galaxy far, far away? What fool would say no?

Yes, this is not the only ambitious Star Wars project that has fallen through over the years. In fact, we have had more canceled projects than completed ones, including the Boba Fett movie, Rian Johnson’s trilogy, the sequel to the new trilogy with Ben Solo as the protagonist, or the film that was to be directed by Kevin Feige. However, there is something that inevitably frustrates us when we see that one of the best directors of recent times has had the misfortune of falling into the hell of producing a mega-franchise like this.

The movie would have entered development back in 2017, and Del Toro himself shared what we could have seen: “Jabba the Hutt has to gain control. He is the character that resembles me the most, and I like him. I love the idea of a kind of Hutt mafia, a very complex heist. I just love the character”. The idea was pitched in 2015, and apparently it went further, even though at the time, as he acknowledged, it was just a geeky thought in his head. Probably, the failure of the Han Solo spin-off made them afraid to launch individual movies of their protagonists and, therefore, it stopped being in development even though, apparently, they already had drawings, art, and a nearly finished script. Honestly, Lucasfilm, it’s still not too late!

For now, it seems that Dave Filoni has eagerly taken the helm of Star Wars, and he is preparing not only for the arrival of The Mandalorian and Grogu but also a new movie for 2027, Starfighter. Whether it will be the renewal of the most beloved franchise title or another nail in its coffin remains to be seen. May the Force be with you.

The new trilogy of 'Star Wars' disregarded John Boyega. Now they have contacted him again to make things right

If I ask you to tell me who your favorite Star Wars character is, in general, there is a high possibility that it is not Finn, the stormtrooper turned Resistance member we met in Episode VII and who was completely forgotten by the time the sequel trilogy ended: many expected him to be the new Han Solo, and he became a boy who was. However, it is possible that, even if it’s late, John Boyega (who plays him) might finally get his revenge. With Chewie the wookiee and Finn the human With the celebrated […]

If I ask you to tell me who your favorite character from Star Wars is, in general, there is a high possibility that it is not Finn, the stormtrooper turned Resistance member we met in Episode VII and who was completely forgotten by the time the sequel trilogy ended: many expected him to be the new Han Solo, and he became a boy who was. However, it is possible that, even if it’s late, John Boyega (who plays him) may finally have his revenge.

With Chewie the Wookiee and Finn the Human

With the celebrated departure of Kathleen Kennedy from the franchise and the arrival of Dave Filoni (we’ll have to see what he knows how to do), projects that have been stuck for years have also been unlocked in a continuous cycle of approval and cancellation that has cost Disney a fortune. And as part of these new ideas, it seems that bringing Finn back in some way is on the table.

The only thing we know at the moment is what an insider has said. That is, Boyega has had a meeting with Lucasfilm about his return to Star Wars. The last time we saw him was seven years ago, and it is possible that it will be in the continuation of that trilogy that Simon Kinberg is apparently preparing. What is clear is that, after the incendiary statements the actor has made over the years, they must have offered him a good idea (or a good stack of cash) to come back.

This spring, the actor stated about the saga “Star Wars has always had the vibe of being in a whiter and more elitist space. It is such a white franchise that the fact that a black person exists in it was something“. Will we see him again? Will the Force be with him? I’m afraid only time will tell.