It appears that the newest model for Disney’s building of franchises is that of the interconnected TV show/movie universe. The MCU has been leaning heavily on it for the past couple of years, and it seems to have become a staple of the way they tell stories now. All the Disney Plus TV shows are canon, and need to be watched to understand most of what’s happening in the films. A casual fan wouldn’t be able to go intoDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnesswithout having watchedWandaVisionfirst, because they wouldn’t have the necessary context.
Star Warsalso seems to be heading down this path, as the shows have gained just as much importance as the main films themselves in terms of understandingStar Warslore. In the lead up to therelease ofObi-Wan Kenobi, the franchise and fans alike circulated lists of whatStar Warsmaterial would be necessary (or at least helpful) to watch before this newest show in order to catch up on all the important story beats. This, when taken to an extreme in the way that Marvel has done, can become a problem. It starts to alienate new viewers, and feels overwhelming even for long-time fans.
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It’s not just that the TV shows and movies all connect — now, they are all necessary to understand the overall story. Instead of a viewer who missed one of the shows missing a small reference in a film, they’re missing entire plot lines because of how directly the entries tie into each other.Connecting all of the shows and moviesin a franchise this way is a fun idea in theory, but in practice it simply becomes overwhelming.
It’s one thing for people who are already fans to keep up with what’s going on; since they’ve been following the story for a while, it’s a bit easier to just watch the newest thing and keep up to date. However, it’s quite another thing for a brand-new viewer to keep up with such a daunting task. Imagine trying to getinto the MCUnow without having seen a single movie or TV show yet. It would feel insurmountable, and very few people have the time in their days to sift through that much material and catch up on everything just so they can watch the newest release.
It doesn’t help that they release so many projects in one year that it feels never-ending, but the degree of inter-connectedness is also becoming difficult to keep up with.Star Warsseems poised to go down the same path, with the implication that one will need to watchThe MandalorianorThe Book of Boba Fettin order to understand future film or TV storylines.
It’s more interesting when stories can stand on their own, as it allows the show to stand out from the rest of the franchise properties rather than feeling like homework that fans have to watch in order to understand the overall storyline. It also limits the scope of what the studio can do, as it restricts them to only being able to make movies and TV shows aboutone overarching storyline, rather than being able to focus on more diverse stories and ideas with characters and worlds that fans have never seen on screen before.
One ofStar Wars’s biggest problems is that it focuses on such a small part of the galaxy. The storyline is always centered on the Skywalkers or someone adjacent to them, but there are many planets and stories that don’t connect to that main storyline. These worlds could be explored if only the franchise wouldbranch out a little bit. By feeling the need to connect every story, it just means that the audience will be seeing different versions of the same basic plot over and over again.
As mentioned above, it also makes entry for new fans so much harder. It’s already daunting enough to try and get intoStar Warswith all of theextended materialand spin-off TV shows, but it makes it even harder when all of those things are directly connected and part of the same storyline. Marvel has already started to do this, and many have complained about MCU fatigue.
While it can be fun to see the extended and continued stories of beloved characters, connecting too many entries in a franchise can just become exhausting for everyone involved, and it limits the scope of what the franchise can do. Marvel has been falling into this trap lately, andStar Warsmight not be far behind if Disney wants to employ the same marketing tactics. However,Moon Knightproves that Marvel can tell standalone stories, and that they should perhaps keep focusing on that. Both the MCU and theStar Warsfranchise should take notes from this story that stands on its own. It would be much wiser forStar Warsto tell stories that aren’t connected to each other, otherwise they risk alienating the very people who might boost their viewership.
