That '70s Show included numerous Star Wars references, thanks to Eric Forman, but the upcoming That '90s Show will feature a different protagonist and a different era of Star Wars. That '70s Show took place between 1976 and 1979, which meant that the lovably Star Wars-obsessed Eric had a limited pool of content from which to pull his jokes. Assuming that his fittingly-named daughter, Leia Forman, is as much of a Star Wars fanatic as her father, That '90s Show can acknowledge far more material, from films and TV shows to comics and video games.
Towards the end of That '70s Show season 1, Eric Forman and his friends see Star Wars on its opening night of May 25th, 1977, turning Eric into an obsessive fan, much to the annoyance of characters like his father, Red. Throughout the series, Eric references Star Wars, though his allusions are limited to the 1977 film. The franchise included a plethora of comics and a few novels between 1977 and 1979, but Eric Forman referencing Vader’s Sith apprentice Kharys or the planet Mimban would have confused the majority of viewers.
That '90s Show will likely depict Leia Forman as a Star Wars fan—like her father before her—but the franchise has changed quite a bit since 1979. In addition to having two more theatrical films, two spinoff movies, and two cartoons, the Star Wars franchise experienced a massive resurgence of non-movie material in the 1990s, with novels like the Thrawn Trilogy, comics like Dark Empire, and video games like Star Wars: TIE Fighter keeping the universe alive far before the prequel trilogy began.
Leia Forman will be a teenager in That '90s Show, so while she’ll undoubtedly be familiar with the original Star Wars trilogy, the Star Wars content she’d interact with the most in her formative years would be the Expanded Universe content being released at the time. For Star Wars fans who grew up in the ‘90s, the comics and video games of the decade were as much of an introduction to the franchise as the films themselves. Realistically, Leia would be as likely to reference Mara Jade or Dathomir as she would Boba Fett or Endor; though, like That '70s Show, viewers may not be so familiar with such niche lore.
Star Wars content included more than the original 1977 film during the timeframe of That '70s Show, but the sitcom avoided making references that might confuse viewers. For this reason, Eric Forman generally talked about characters and moments like the Death Star trench run and avoided gleefully referencing Luke Skywalker’s duel with Orman Tagge. The closest that the series came to referencing 1970s Expanded Universe lore was showing Eric’s collection of comics, many of which were published by Marvel, and therefore might have included their then-ongoing Star Wars series.
Assuming that Leia Forman is a Star Wars fan, her references to the franchise will likely be only to the original trilogy. Forman might bring a Star Wars book or some comics to Kitty and Red’s home for the summer, but outside of a familiar Expanded Universe cover, the series will probably stick to references that mainstream audiences wouldn’t be confused by. Eric Forman’s Star Wars obsession was an endearing element of That '70s Show, and That '90s Show can retain this running gag through Leia, albeit with far more content to reference.