Disney is salvaging the most popular things from the Star Wars prequel trilogy with its upcoming Star Wars TV shows and films, despite pretty much ignoring the prequel trilogy until now. The prequel trilogy - once reviled for its flaws - is finally being recognized for its strengths. As others have recently noted, a significant part of the prequels’ renewed interest has to do with the fact that the children who grew up watching the prequels are now making movies and (more importantly for Disney) paying for subscription services like Disney+. Whether Disney has begun to genuinely appreciate the prequels is unclear, but the media giant certainly knows how to capitalize on nostalgia.
For some Millennials who remember seeing Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in the theaters (but are too young to have seen any of the original trilogy films when they first released), the prequels were never utter and inherent failures – they just didn’t meet the expectations of their Star Wars-loving parents. Unfortunately, by the time Disney purchased Lucasfilm, the prequels had become so hated that Disney didn’t want anything to do with them.
Disney’s Star Wars trilogy threw the baby out with the bathwater by ignoring anything from the prequels (only making infrequent and vague references) and focusing only on the original trilogy. Moving forward, it seems like Disney is plucking things out of the prequel movies that people liked – and many of the references have already been well-received by audiences. Here’s a breakdown of things Disney borrows from the prequels in its current and future Star Wars projects.
Boba Fett, Jango Fett, And Slave I's Seismic Charge
In The Mandalorian season 2, episode 7, "Chapter 15: The Believer,” Boba Fett drops a seismic charge from Slave I and it detonates near two TIE fighters, shredding them into pieces. This is a callback to Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones where Jango Fett, Boba’s father, discovers that Obi-Wan Kenobi has followed them from Kamino and then pursues Obi-Wan through an asteroid field above Geonosis. Jango drops two seismic charges which detonate in complete silence before their dull and deafening hum reverberates through space. The scene in Attack of the Clones was incredibly popular following the film’s release. On top of that, The Mandolorian's Boba Fett is played by Temuera Morrison, who played Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones. Morrison's return to the Star Wars franchise and The Mandolorian’s use of seismic charges has been a huge hit with fans.
Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan
Ewan McGregor’s performance as Obi-Wan is almost universally agreed upon to be the highlight of the prequel trilogy. Obi-Wan plays a smaller supporting role in The Phantom Menace, but Obi-Wan is the sole person that grounds Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith in any sort of humanity. When Padmé is sidelined and Anakin starts acting out of character, Obi-Wan steals the show with his side quest to Kamino in Attack of the Clones and battle with General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith. His wry humor and quippy one-liners have sparked an entire subculture of memes and fans have been clamoring for years – even before Disney bought Lucasfilm – for Ewan McGregor to get his own spinoff. The long wait has finally paid off: the Obi-Wan series will star Ewan McGregor and premiere on Disney+ likely sometime in 2021 or 2022.
Hayden Christensen's Vader
Christensen’s performance as Anakin Skywalker (and later Darth Vader) is often cited as one of the weakest points in the second and third prequel films. Nearly twenty years later, there seems to be somewhat of a consensus among a significant group of fans that the dialog George Lucas wrote for the character was simply bad. This theory holds up when looking at other characters like Padmé, played by Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman. Padmé has some equally terrible dialogue in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, but the difference is that Padmé wasn’t the star of the prequel trilogy – Anakin was. The prequel trilogy was Anakin’s story and, for better or worse, it put Christensen in the spotlight. The recent announcement that Christensen will appear as Darth Vader in the Obi-Wan series of course has its critics and naysayers, but the overwhelming response to Christensen’s return seems to be positive.
Midichlorians
Midichlorians have been highly controversial among Star Wars fans. The concept of midichlorians was introduced in The Phantom Menace, though George Lucas had come up with the idea back in 1977. When Phantom Menace first released, the most common criticisms of midichlorians were that they were both ridiculous and unnecessary. Director J.J. Abrams was also dismissive of the idea, so there’s no mention of them at all in the sequel trilogy. But midichlorians weren’t exactly a focal point of the prequel trilogy, either. In fact, midichlorians were only mentioned once after The Phantom Menace. Nonetheless, they were an interesting idea that possibly explained the bizarrely hereditary nature of the Force. Now, there might finally be a more cohesive, logical explanation of the tiny, Force-sensitive beings because The Mandalorian has officially brought midichlorians into its canon – though the term “M-count” is used in favor of midichlorians.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Ahsoka Tano
Star Wars: The Clone Wars isn’t a part of the prequel trilogy, but the animated Star Wars spinoff show would not exist without Attack of the Clones or Revenge of the Sith. The Clone Wars is widely regarded as one of the best animated shows ever. Even Disney recognized the success of the show and ordered a seventh season. The Clone Wars introduced fan-favorite character Ahsoka Tano, who also appeared in Star Wars: Rebels, and whose recent cameo in The Mandolorian sparked a lot of excitement among fans of all three series. Ahsoka Tano is as beloved as any character in all of Disney’s current Star Wars canon, so it only seems fitting that Disney would finally give her her own show – Ahsoka could debut on Disney+ as early as 2022.
Disney’s Star Wars trilogy barely referenced original characters from the prequel trilogy, which is truly tragic for characters like Padmé and Qui-Gon who were so influential in the lives of beloved original trilogy characters. But now Disney has the chance to take the good stuff from the prequels and make it even better. The Ahsoka and Obi-Wan series, especially, open the doors for cameos, flashbacks, and a deeper exploration into the most beloved parts of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.