Lucasfilm announced enough new projects to make a Star Wars fan’s head explode at Disney’s recent Investor Day event. Among these projects are three streaming series spun off from The Mandalorian – Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, and Rangers of the New Republic – that will run concurrently with its story threads.
Of the three shows, Rangers of the New Republic is the one with the most connection to the Skywalker saga. It can explore the transfer of political power in the gap between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens in more depth than any other Star Wars media to date.
Return Of The Jedi: The New Republic At The Height Of Its Powers
The most interesting thing about the New Republic officers’ appearances on The Mandalorian has been seeing how the Rebel Alliance morphed into a governing body that polices the galaxy.
Between the Empire’s fall and the First Order’s rise, the New Republic enjoyed a brief period of success. In the Rangers series, the New Republic will be at the height of its powers.
The Force Awakens: The Fall Of The New Republic
Essentially, Rangers of the New Republic will be a law enforcement procedural set in a galaxy far, far away. But the tragic undercurrent is that the enforcing body, the New Republic, is inevitably doomed to fall to its knees and concede power to a fascist dictator.
The New Republic already collapsed before the events of The Force Awakens. Rangers of the New Republic can connect the victory at the end of Return of the Jedi to the defeat at the beginning of The Force Awakens.
Return Of The Jedi: Legacy Characters
Luke’s triumphant appearance in the second-season finale of The Mandalorian proved that Disney+’s new roster of post-Return of the Jedi content overseen by the dream team of Favreau and Filoni can do justice to the legacy characters who got skewed beyond recognition in the sequels.
Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover could reprise their roles as young Han and Lando, respectively, while Billie Lourd could play a CGI’d-up young Leia like she did in The Rise of Skywalker.
The Force Awakens: Ben Solo’s Childhood
Instead of telling the story of how Han and Leia’s son Kylo Ren trained under Luke and turned to the dark side, the sequel trilogy picked up after all that had already happened and there wasn’t much story left to tell.
With Luke, Han, and Leia all playing major roles in the formation of the New Republic after the events of Return of the Jedi, Ben Solo’s childhood could factor into the story arcs in Rangers.
Return Of The Jedi: Imperial Remnants
In its exploration of a post-Return of the Jedi galaxy, The Mandalorian has made it clear that the Empire was still operational after Palpatine’s defeat; it just had a fraction of the power it once had.
The Imperial Remnants have existed in the background of The Mandalorian, only appearing in the context of the search for Grogu, but Rangers of the New Republic can put them at the forefront.
The Force Awakens: The Rise Of The First Order
When The Force Awakens opens, the Empire is already back in full force – except it’s now called the First Order – with giant fleets of TIE fighters and Star Destroyers and a bigger Death Star than ever before. The sequel trilogy gave no indication about how the First Order rose to power.
George Lucas made an entire trilogy out of the birth of the Empire. Rangers of the New Republic can set the stage for the First Order’s takeover.
Return Of The Jedi: Force Ghosts
If the young Luke Skywalker introduced in The Mandalorian crosses over into Rangers of the New Republic, then he could be seen spending time with the Force ghosts who watched over him at the end of Return of the Jedi.
An Obi-Wan ghost played by Ewan McGregor might seem strange (and a computer-generated Alec Guinness might be even stranger) and Yoda’s spirit appeared in The Last Jedi, but Hayden Christensen is primed for an appearance as Anakin’s Force ghost after his inclusion in the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi.
The Force Awakens: Who Are The First Order’s Stormtroopers?
In The Force Awakens, Finn’s arc makes it clear that the First Order’s Stormtroopers aren’t expendable cannon fodder; they’re brainwashed orphans. In theory, under all those helmets are a bunch of misunderstood Finns in need of better guidance.
But Stormtroopers are still treated like cannon fodder for nostalgic purposes. And Finn reveals that he was in sanitation, negating his entire internal conflict. Rangers of the New Republic can explain exactly where the First Order got its troops from.
Return Of The Jedi: Peacetime
In the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi is filled with terrible additions like “Jedi Rocks” and the Sarlacc’s beak. One addition that sort of fits is the victory celebration at the end, which shows worlds from the entire Star Wars saga – Naboo, Coruscant, Bespin etc. – celebrating the Empire’s defeat.
Before the First Order rises up, Rangers of the New Republic can take a couple of seasons to show the galaxy enjoying peace and prosperity after the fall of a dictatorship.
The Force Awakens: Palpatine’s Return
Palpatine’s return technically wasn’t teased in The Force Awakens. In fact, it wasn’t teased at all. It was announced in a random game of Fortnite and explained away in a couple of vague lines of dialogue in The Rise of Skywalker. But the latter movie did reveal that Supreme Leader Snoke, who supposedly took Palpatine’s place as the galaxy’s dark side ruler in the interim between trilogies, was one of his creations.
The Imperial Remnant’s obsession with cloning Grogu for his “M-count” in The Mandalorian has already hinted that a deeper exploration of these barely congruent plot points is on the way.