When Disney acquired Lucasfilm, its initial strategy was to release a new Star Wars movie every year, rushing out a sequel trilogy in the space of four years, but those plans derailed when Solo: A Star Wars Story became the franchise’s first box office bomb. The Mouse House’s second stab at making Star Wars work was outlined at the studio’s recent Investor Day event, in which a boatload of new movies and TV shows were announced.
It took a while for this new era of Star Wars to find its feet, but thanks to The Mandalorian, it’s finally on track. The way that Jon Favreau is expanding The Mandalorian’s small-screen universe with spin-offs is reminiscent of Marvel Studios’ approach, but Star Wars is still its own thing.
Emulating Marvel: Interconnected Storylines
Among the many Star Wars projects announced at Disney’s Investor Day were two spin-offs from The Mandalorian — Ahsoka and Rangers of the New Republic — with a third, The Book of Boba Fett, being confirmed within the show itself.
Jon Favreau has affirmed that these series’ plot threads will all run concurrently, weaving in and out of each other on the path to a “climactic story event.” This recalls the way Marvel used a bunch of different superheroes’ stories to set the stage for the ambitious double-whammy crossover of Infinity War and Endgame.
Still Different: No “Phases”
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is split into “phases.” The first phase took the story from Tony Stark’s introduction to the Avengers being assembled. The upcoming fourth phase will explore a post-Thanos world. The Star Wars franchise isn’t divided up like this.
When Lucas was in charge, he split the saga into trilogies. Now that Disney is expanding the franchise to include unrelated spin-offs, each project is allowed to be its own thing without being collected into phases.
Emulating Marvel: Announcing Huge Chunks Of Content
While Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy hasn’t expressly divided Star Wars’ slate into “phases” like Kevin Feige has been doing with Marvel’s output, she did emulate Feige’s style of announcing huge chunks of content at a time.
At the same Investor Day event where Kennedy announced enough new Star Wars content to make a fan’s head spin, Feige unveiled a bunch of new Marvel projects, including an Ironheart series.
Still Different: Centuries-Long Timeline
The furthest back in history that the MCU has gone is World War II. Most of the franchise’s movies take place in the present day, while Avengers: Endgame jumped five years into the future. Eternals will reportedly explore eons of existence, but it’ll be the franchise’s first foray before the 20th century.
The Star Wars timeline, on the other hand, spans centuries. While Disney has mostly stuck to the Skywalker saga’s timeline up to this point, future projects like The Acolyte are exploring new eras, hundreds of years removed from the story of the Skywalkers.
Emulating Marvel: Post-Credits Teasers
One of the defining qualities of the MCU is its post-credits stingers. Ever since Nick Fury approached Tony Stark about the Avengers Initiative, every MCU movie has teased another one in its end credits.
Fans who stuck around through the end credits of The Mandalorian’s latest season finale were treated to a similar teaser for the upcoming spin-off The Book of Boba Fett, as Boba and Fennec broke into Jabba’s palace, killed his successor Bib Fortuna, and took his throne.
Still Different: Variety Of Characters
While the MCU has explored such disparate genres as WWII actioners, high school comedies, and space operas, every entry in the franchise is about some kind of superhero.
The upcoming Star Wars projects will feature a variety of different characters. The franchise’s slate includes a show about a Jedi, a show about a Sith, a movie about starfighter pilots, a cartoon about renegade clones, a show about a Rebel spy — fans will be treated to stories about all kinds of characters.
Emulating Marvel: Solo Adventures For Ensemble Characters
The movies in the MCU are divided between solo movies like Iron Man and ensemble pieces like The Avengers. The ensemble pieces open up possibilities for further solo adventures, fleshing out minor characters from bigger movies, like Black Widow and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Lucasfilm’s future Star Wars slate is following this model: Obi-Wan Kenobi is spun off from the Skywalker saga, Andor is spun off from Rogue One, and Ahsoka Tano, who was introduced as part of the large ensemble cast of The Clone Wars, is now getting her own live-action series.
Still Different: Standalone Projects
Every movie in the MCU — and all the shows coming to Disney+ — tie into the same ongoing narrative. In the Infinity Saga, all the stories contributed (in some capacity) to the Infinity Stones storyline that led to Thanos’ devastating attack. Standalone adventures like Black Panther and Captain Marvel still have strong ties to the other movies.
The future of Star Wars will bring a couple of projects that stand entirely on their own and have nothing to do with the Skywalker saga, like Rogue Squadron and The Acolyte.
Emulating Marvel: Fan Service (Done Right)
Fan service is often considered to be a bad thing, but when it’s done right, it can be a thing of beauty. Kevin Feige has mastered the art of giving fans what they want in surprising ways with moments, like Captain America wielding Thor’s hammer and Iron Man’s final sacrifice.
The Disney era of Star Wars has nailed a lot of its fan service so far — just look at Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker’s hallway scenes — and with announcements like a Boba Fett spin-off, that’s set to continue.
Still Different: A Galaxy Far, Far Away
For the most part, the MCU takes place in our world. Since Iron Man’s improvised ending, the franchise has loosely explored what the world would be like if these characters were real. Even when these movies go to the far reaches of the universe, there’s something relatable to connect it to our familiar Earth, like an ‘80s kid with a Walkman.
Star Wars, of course, takes place in a galaxy far, far away. Unlike Star Trek, Earth doesn’t exist in its universe. It’s set in its own reality with its own laws of physics, and Favreau and co. are proudly leaning into the saga’s pulpier aspects.