Upon release, Star Wars was an immediate phenomenon, and its legacy continues to loom over us like the Death Star to this day, impossible to ignore. Since its inception, Star Wars has been popular across a variety of mediums -- from movies, TV shows, video games, comics, toys, and more -- and it’s been a hit in each and every single one of them. Suffice it to say, Star Wars is the machine that keeps on churning and reaping the rewards.
However, despite the myriad of iconic entertainment the franchise has given birth throughout the years, some projects that were announced have remained lost in the shadows, doomed to never see the light of day -- sort of like a Republican Emperor, only non-existent. For fans of George Lucas' galaxy, our hopes have been dashed time and time again when we find out that projects we were excited about won’t ever come to life.
Now under the control of Disney, the Star Wars universe is focusing on creating brand new entertainment for us all to consume -- and that’s great. However, it’s difficult to not wonder what could have been.
Therefore, to mourn the films, TV, and video games that never happened, here are 15 Canceled Star Wars Projects We’ll Never Get to See.
DARTH VADER TV SPECIALS
Back in 2013, Disney and Lucasfilm were reported to be developing several Star Wars-related projects across multiple platforms. These included the Star Wars Rebels cartoon and Episode VII, which eventually came to fruition. But we’re still waiting for the most intriguing one of all -- if you root for the dark side anyway.
According to the reports, there were Darth Vader TV specials in the works, but little was known about what these would entail or who was involved in their creation. However, a teaser image was released to suggest it was in development.
We’re still waiting for an update heading into 2018, which suggests the project has either been canceled or shelved for the time being. There’s money to be made from Vader, though, so the character might still get his own specials at some point.
R2-D2 And C-3PO
Have you ever watched Star Wars and wished R2-D2 and C3-PO were the stars of their own solo movie? If the answer to that is Yes, then you’ll be heartbroken to know that it was another George Lucas idea that never materialized.
In 1980, he told Prevue Magazine that he had “some ideas for a film about robots, with no humans in it.” His plan was to develop another two trilogies with a couple of side movies thrown in, but as we found out, only one other trilogy happened under Lucas’ purview.
With the current spin-offs complementing the main episodes, perhaps a robot buddy movie is something worth considering. They could be like the galaxy’s Riggs and Murtaugh or something. Until then, however, we’ll just need to settle for the Droids cartoon.
BOBA FETT VIDEO GAME
Out of all the heroes and villains in the Star Wars universe, the morally gray Boba Fett has always had cooler reputation than most. He also nearly received his own video game, but like most good things in this galaxy, it wasn’t to be.
Star Wars 1313 was supposed to revolve around our favorite intergalactic bounty hunter Boba Fett during his formative adulthood years. Apparently, the story would see him make his way through the underground area full of scumbags and bad guys. It could have been awesome.
Following Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, the game was put on hold. Then, in 2015, it was announced the project had been canceled after Disney let go of the staff who’d been working on the project. So, not only was a potentially awesome game canceled, but a lot of good people lost their jobs as well.
GEORGE LUCAS SEQUEL TRILOGY
Lucas had been toying with the idea of a sequel trilogy since 1979, which would have turned out somewhat different from the current incarnation which began with J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens in 2013.
In 1980, Lucas proposed the idea of a total of 12 films in the main episodic story arc. In the sequel series, the films would have contained a romantic family subplot for Luke Skywalker, as well as a sister who apparently wasn’t Leia. According to the lore, he was also supposed to have children.
Given that Skywalker has a history of playing tonsil tennis with siblings, perhaps his new sister would have also been the mother to his supposed children? We’ll never know for sure.
JEDI OUTLAW
The story of Jedi Outlaw would have taken place 500 years after the events of the original trilogy, set during a time where another conflict between between the Jedi and the Sith has broken out and ruined the galaxy’s chances at finding peace.
In the game, we would have played as a future relative of Luke Skywalker tasked with trying to keep the peace between the warring sides. However, after being have framed with a murder he didn’t commit and becoming entangled in a conspiracy as a result, our hero would have been forced to go on the run and clear his name.
Little information was revealed prior to the game’s cancellation, but it sounds like a thrilling space adventure that could have expanded the franchise’s mythology further with its far-future setting.
WOOKIEE MOVIE
Back in 1980, Lucas wasn’t just planning movies for droids -- he also wanted to give Chewy's brethren, the Wookiees, their own spin-off outing as he sought to further explore the story of the universe’s hairiest inhabitants.
During the aforementioned interview where Lucas unveiled his idea for a robot-centric movie, he also revealed plans for an entire movie dedicated to the galaxy’s furriest friends. “I thought of a film just about Wookiees, nothing else. So, for a time, I had a couple of odd movies with just those characters.”
In 1980, George Lucas’ imagination was clearly working overtime and it’s a shame to know that some of these projects didn’t come together. This movie in particular could have been weird and interesting because who doesn’t love Wookiees? In fact, we’d do it all for the Wookiee.
STAR WARS: SMUGGLER
As the title suggests, this game would have seen players adopt the the role of a smuggler to rob and sneak stolen goods across the universe. Like Han Solo - before he became became synonymous with being a hero of the Rebel Alliance.
As far as we know, Solo himself wasn’t featured, but players would have been able to create their own customized career criminal - which is almost as good as being Han, right? Who hasn’t dreamed of robbing the galaxy’s wondrous artefacts and pawning them for a few bucks?
Perhaps more interestingly, though, is that the game would also have involved smuggling and trading goods between multiple platforms, including social media, tablets and consoles. Unfortunately, the game didn’t make it past its concept art stages,
KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC 3
Knights Of The Old Republic and its sequel The Sith Lords are cult favorites among aficionados of Star Wars video games. Therefore, the fact that we can never play this one has been a cause of heartache for many years. The fact that the adventure still had stories to be told following the second installment makes it sting just a little bit more.
Information about the game’s plot is limited, but we do know that one of the characters was a female named Naresha. How it connected to the events of previous games is also unclear.
The game was canceled due to the financial situation of LucasArts in the mid-2000s. The chances of it ever happening are also slim considering the events in the series are considered non-canon and therefore not in line with the franchise’s current mythology.
SPLINTER OF THE MIND'S EYE
When Lucas was developing Star Wars back in the '70s, he hired writer Alan Dean Foster to write a novelization of the film. However, he was also commissioned to write a second book, which they considered using as a blueprint for a cheap follow-up film.
The movie would have been called Splinter of the Mind's Eye and the story saw Luke and Leia searching for a mysterious artifact with connections to the Force. In the original story, the pair were also lovers, but as Foster had no idea they were siblings. Han Solo and Chewbacca aren't even in it!
Instead, though, Lucas pressed ahead with The Empire Strikes Back and this was published as a novel in 1978.
THE CLONE WARS SPIN-OFF
Here’s another project we can blame Disney for killing. In November 2016, Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo revealed that there was a Clone Wars spin-off series in the works, which was the last project the company was working on before it was sold to Disney.
The series would have focused on "young padawans" arc from season 5, which was originally intended to be aired separately from the main series. The first season would have spanned 19 episodes, but alas, like everything on this list, destiny (and Disney) had other plans.
As for Clone Wars, some new episodes have been released as part of The Lost Missions series. Meanwhile, other unproduced ideas from the series have since been adapted for other mediums.
STAR WARS: IMPERIAL COMMANDO
One of the unspoken truths of this universe is that the Empire is so much cooler than the Rebel Alliance. Some root for the bad guys because they have cooler costumes and powers. Therefore, the chance to play as the a baddies and live out our dreams of representing Darth Vader was always welcome in our dark hearts -- and Imperial Commando would have allowed that to happen.
A sequel to the 2005 video game Republic Commando, this would have revolved around the Empire's elite ground combat troops as they fought the Rebel Alliance and carried out missions on behalf of the Republic .
Unfortunately, the game never made it past the conception stages and that was that. The low sales of Republic Commando didn't help its case, either.
STAR WARS: PROTEUS
Following Star Wars Galaxies, LucasArts tried to develop a “sibling” to the game which would also have been a PC exclusive. Titled Proteus, the game would have been a MMO project which allowed players to forge their own path and adventure through the universe.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this project just didn’t quite click. The game was canned due to difficulties with the game’s interface, but the stems of the idea were kept to form Star Wars: Pangea -- another game which fell through during development. Yikes.
Following the cancellation of these games, the developers moved on to another project that failed as well. We could easily fill an entire list with Star Wars games that don’t have a (new) hope in hell of ever being made.
STAR WARS DETOURS
Out of all the projects on this list, we’re happy to report that this one actually exists somewhere in the Skywalker Ranch. Detours is a collaboration between Robot Chicken’s Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, and Lucasfilm, which dates all the way back to 2012 and produced a season and a half’s worth of material.
In the spirit of of the work of Green and Senreich, the Detours provides a comedic look at the lives of the characters who inhabit the galaxy far, far away. So, if the episodes are ready and waiting, why aren’t they available?
Once again, it comes back to Disney. Following its acquisition of Lucasfilm, all 39 episodes were put on the backburner so they could focus on other projects. Now the series is rotting in a vault somewhere and there don't seem to be any plans to release them in the future, either.
STAR WARS: UNDERWORLD
Another potentially awesome addition to the Star Wars franchise’s small screen iterations could have been this live-action series, which dates all the way back to the mid-2000s.
Ronald D. Moore signed up to the project and wrote a script in 2005, and he stated the show would have been in a darker, more adult-oriented style. It was also rumored to involve organized crime syndicates who dabbled in nefarious deeds like galactic prostitution rings. The hero, meanwhile, might very well have been Boba Fett.
The project died when Disney took over and started working on its own movies and series instead. Are you spotting a pattern here? Still, with Marvel and DC both making waves with their own live-action TV fare, surely it’s only a matter of time before Star Wars gets its own series as well.
THE FORCE UNLEASHED 3
The Force Unleashed 3 was probably the most anticipated Star Wars game ever. As the second game ended on an almighty cliffhanger, fans were ravenous to continue to the story.
That said, response to the second game was underwhelming at best. Critics and fans accused the game of being a shameless cash grab given its short running time and perceived lack of effort put in. In a way, the third was anticipated as a redemption of sorts; a way to right the wrongs from before.
The game was heartbreakingly canceled due to internal problems within LucasArts at the time. As for a future resurrection, well, that ball is in Disney’s court. Until then, we’ll just keep wondering what could have been and hope our dreams do come true one day.
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Can you think of any other canceled Star Wars projects? Sound off in the comments!