Starkiller is a fan-favorite character from inside the Star Wars realm, once thought of as a part of Canon then moved into the “Legends” aspect of Star Wars, we met a couple of versions of the character of Starkiller, voiced and motion-captured by Sam Witwer in The Force Unleashed and The Force Unleashed 2 video games.
But could a Disney+ show work for the character? Well, in my opinion, it’s a yes and a no question.
A live-action show could work for the character of Starkiller, it would bring in that unique aspect of Star Wars which is fully focused on one Force user who has been trained by Darth Vader for 20+ years, imagine the fight scenes we could get with Starkiller. It would be insane.
If it was to happen, it could easily begin with him being Darth Vader’s secret apprentice or even follow the story of the games just translated to live-action with obviously better fight scenes and action sequences. This would give Disney a way of bringing Hayden Christensen back for even more Vader live-action projects.
If they were to bring Starkiller into the Canon universe, they could easily give him the backstory of him being Vader’s secret apprentice or even bring him back as the 8th brother in the Inquisitor faction, as there were plans to have the character of Starkiller appear in the Star Wars Rebels animated series.
Now let’s move onto why it wouldn’t exactly work as a show.
One of the main reasons why it wouldn’t work is simply “Canon”, many people know what is Canon and that is it, they only know the movies, and The Mandalorian and soon to be other series like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor which will be debuting in the near future.
They don’t realize that the universe of Star Wars is so much more expanded in Legends, better stories, better characters, and of course, better developed already established characters like Luke Skywalker. Starkiller is Legends so they wouldn’t know the story unless they’ve played the games.
Since it’s been years since the last game and Starkiller has been pushed into Legends material, the character of Starkiller has been essentially left behind in the video game aspect of Star Wars, which would be it’s downfall if he was brought onto a Disney+ series.
Many people would come away from the show saying things like “This guy is just a copy of Anakin or Luke” or “This is purely just a Luke Skywalker rip-off”, and to a point, yes, but in some peoples eyes, Starkiller is much stronger and more powerful than those two, even though Anakin is the chosen one.
Even if it didn’t work in live-action, Star Wars could do a similar series as Marvel with their “What If…?” series, each episode focused on a different “What if” story from inside the Star Wars realm, I think they are dipping their toes in with the upcoming series “Star Wars: Visions”.
Imagine a series where we would get animated episodes of “What if… Mace Windu survived” or “What if… Anakin stayed loyal to the Jedi Order” this would be an insane series to watch with so many endless possibilities for stories.
Photo: Starkiller “The Force Unleashed”.
The Force Unleashed was never a part of the Official Star Wars canon under Lucas. It was EU only. Lucas did not consider the EU part of the Canon or his Star Wars universe, rather a ‘parallel Star Wars universe’. Quotes below.
“There’s this notion that everything changed when everything became Legends. And I can see why people think that. But, you know, having worked with George I can tell you that it was always very clear — and he made it very clear — that the films and the TV shows were the only things that he considered Canon. That was it.”
Dave Filoni interview on ‘The Star Wars show’ [41.40 mark]-
https://youtu.be/hcNXPNXOv2A?t=2500
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“I get asked all the time, ‘What happens after “Return of the Jedi”?,’ and there really is no answer for that,” he said. “The movies were the story of Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, and when Luke saves the galaxy and redeems his father, that’s where that story ends.””
~ George Lucas, Flannelled One, May 2008, “George Lucas: ‘Star Wars’ won’t go beyond Darth Vader”, interview with Los Angeles Times
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“And now there have been novels about the events after Episode VI, which isn’t at all what I would have done with it. The Star Wars story is really the tragedy of Darth Vader. That is the story. Once Vader dies, he doesn’t come back to life, the Emperor doesn’t get cloned and Luke doesn’t get married.”
~ George Lucas,Total Film Magazine Interview, 2008
https://ibb.co/x5q1RrQ
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As for the Force Unleashed:
Pablo Hidalgo @pablohidalgo Q&A
“He [Lucas] never considered it canon & was actively developing television material that disavowed it at the same time.”
https://ibb.co/jyct514
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“The Force Unleashed was an ambitious videogame series launched by LucasArts in 2008, its first foray into next-generation console gaming,featuring unique technology for unparalleled visuals, game physics, and character intelligence. The story line by Haden Blackman, set between Episodes III and IV, had sweeping implications for the larger Expanded Universe, by giving Vader an apprentice, imbuing him with unfathomable Force abilities, and positing that the very origin of the Rebel Alliance was a plot by the Emperor.The surprising tale and concept for the game received personal approval from George Lucas, but it does not occupy a higher standard of canon than any other Expanded Universe lore. That is, it still exists outside the movies and television series produced by Lucas and would be subordinate to mythology revealed in those media. For example, Lucas’s alternate explanations for the roots of the Rebel Alliance appear in season five of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which take precedence over Starkiller’s involvement.”
Pablo Hidalgo – Force Unleashed – Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion, 2012
https://ibb.co/QbdF8L5
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“There are two worlds here,” explained Lucas. “There’s my world, which is the movies, and there’s this other world that has been created, which I say is the parallel universe – the licensing world of the books, games and comic books.”
~ George Lucas, Cinescape, 2002
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“I don’t read that stuff, I haven’t read any of the novels. I don’t know anything about that world. That’s a different world than my world. But I do try and keep it consistent. The way I do it is they have a Star Wars encyclopedia. So if I come up with a name or something else, I look it and see if it has already been used. When I said other people could make their own Star Wars stories, we decided that, like Star Trek, we would have TWO universes: My Universe and than this other one. They try to make THEIR universe as consistent with mine as possible, but obviously they get enthusiastic and want to go off in other directions.”
~ George Lucas Starlog Magazine Interview, 2005 – https://ibb.co/Km1CcNs
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“I think people over emphasize the importance of the canon level. The intent of the canon levels was, as the main intent was ‘if someones looking for the ships from a film, they can than use those fields to check for them only in the films,and thus seperate that from what was in the EU. So we can look at it case by case. I think there is an over emphasis of what those fields mean and what they represent”.
~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Adminstrator for Lucas Licensing
“That ‘level of canon’ thus helps in terms of bookkeeping. Those ‘canon levels’ are for the holocron.”
~ Pablo Hidalgo
ForceCast #273: The Galaxy Is Reading – Interview with Leland Chee and Pablo Hidalgo, 2013 Approximately the 1 hour mark so 1:00 – 1:02 mark
http://www.forcecast.net/story/home/ForceCast_273_The_Galaxy_Is_Reading_154431.asp
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“What George did with the films and The Clone Wars was pretty much his universe ,” Chee said. “He didn’t really have that much concern for what we were doing in the books and games. So the Expanded Universe was very much separate.”
~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Adminstrator for Lucas Licensing, SYFY WIRE Fandom Files #13 Interview,Jan.2018
https://ibb.co/r2SvbBP
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“..Lucas always made it clear that he was not beholden to the EU. He set the films he created as the canon. This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align.”
~ Lucasfilm, 2014
https://www.starwars.com/news/the-legendary-star-wars-expanded-universe-turns-a-new-page
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“Those of us writing the EU were always told, all along, from the very beginning (have I stressed that strongly enough?), “Only the Movies are Canon.” Sure, it was disappointing.”
~ Kathy Tyers, EU author [Truce at Bakura, Balance Point] Interview, 2018
http://starwarsinterviews.com/various/authors/kathy-tyers-author/
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Podcast Interview with Steve Perry, Author of Shadows of the Empire from the Expanded Universe –
Interviewer – ‘So what are your thoughts about your book and all the ones that came other than this last year are no longer part of the Official Star Wars Canon ever since Disney took over?
Steve Perry – “Ohh they never were! Nothing was ever canon other than the movies.”
The Ritual Misery Podcast with hosts Amos and Kent, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2569&v=opbMcVJolSA&feature=emb_logo