Are the Yuuzhan Vong about to return to Star Wars?
An unwanted guest might be about to pay a visit to the new canon and Rogue One gets the HISHE treatment in today's Force Report.
The Outer Limits
Yesterday’s excerpt from the forthcoming novel, Star Wars: Thrawn, has given some fans a scare — not for its portrayal of Thrawn, which is perfect (as you’d expect from author Timothy Zahn), but because it might be teasing the return of the Yuuzhan Vong.
If you’re not familiar with the Yuuzhan Vong, you haven’t missed much – they were a race of aliens, from an uncharted region of space, who invaded the Star Wars galaxy. They believed technology was blasphemous, opting instead to use bioorganic weaponry and vehicles, and they were resistant to the Force.
Essentially, they were an attempt to shake up the old Expanded Universe by introducing a new and different conflict, so the writers didn’t have to figure out how to concoct yet another story about the New Republic taking on the remnants of the Empire. The idea was solid enough, in theory, but to say they got a lukewarm reaction from fans would be putting it mildly.
The story didn’t ‘feel’ like Star Wars, and it just dragged on too long, across nearly 20 novels over four years from 1999 to 2003. When Disney eventually scrapped the Expanded Universe, nobody cried any tears over the Yuuzzhan Vong stories being confined to ‘Legends’ status.
It’s probably fair to say, then, that nobody has been clamouring for their return. And yet, in the excerpt from Thrawn, we’re given reason to believe a comeback might be on the table.
In his first confrontation with Palpatine, Thrawn tells the Emperor about “threats lurking in the Unknown Regions”. It’s a conversation that can’t help but bring to mind Outbound Flight, the EU novel in which Palpatine and Thrawn discuss the threat of the Yuuzhan Vong.
Similarly, in Chuck Wendig’s recently released Star Wars: Aftermath: Empire’s End, Palpatine becomes obsessed with the Unknown Regions, convinced that something is waiting there – “some origin of the Force, some dark presence formed of malevolent substance”.
Personally, I don’t think fans have anything to worry about – because I think these clues are pointing towards the origin of Snoke, not the Yuuzhan Vong.
Of course, I realise that choosing between a Yuuzhan Vong theory and a Snoke theory is a no-win situation, but I think the Snoke theory is slightly more palatable in this case.
I don’t really like the idea of Snoke turning out to be any established character, because I’m not sure there’s a way to execute that reveal that won’t be cheesy. But I do like the idea of him being a powerful entity that witnessed the rise and fall of the Empire from his home in the Unknown Regions, perhaps after being exiled there many moons ago.
There’s certainly plenty of ‘evidence’ in Empire’s End that can be read that way, anyway, so there’s probably no need to worry about the Yuuzhan Vong just yet.
That said, Dave Filoni and Pablo Hidalgo — who are both still very much involved with Lucasfilm and Star Wars — did reveal at Star Wars Celebration 2015 that they were planning to introduce the Yuuzhan Vong to The Clone Wars before the show was cancelled…
Rogue Redo
The How It Should Have Ended crew have released their take on Rogue One!
It’s basically impossible, when you’re dealing with a piece of media that’s been analysed to death over the course of a couple of months on the internet, to make any jokes or observations about Rogue One that haven’t already been made, but it’s still a fun short that’s sure to get a few laughs out of any Star Wars fan with a sense of humour.
The Empire vs Mothma
Reprising her role from Rogue One (and an infamous Revenge of the Sith deleted scene), Genevieve O’Reilly will appear as Mon Mothma in this week’s episode of Star Wars Rebels.
The episode, Secret Cargo, will find the Ghost crew transporting the Rebel Alliance founder across the galaxy when a routine refuelling mission goes wrong.
Why I Love Saturn
The Saturn Awards, the official awards group of The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, has honoured Rogue One with 11 nominations.
The film is nominated for...
Best Science Fiction Film Release
Best Actress in a Film (Felicity Jones)
Best Supporting Actor in a Film (Diego Luna)
Best Film Direction (Gareth Edwards)
Best Film Screenplay (Chris Weitz, Tony Gilroy)
Best Film Editing (John Gilroy, Colin Goudie, Jabez Olssen)
Best Film Production Design (Doug Chiang, Neil Lamont)
Best Film Music (Michael Giacchino)
Best Film Costume Designer (David Crossman, Glyn Dilloin)
Best Film Make-Up (Amy Byrne)
Best Film Special / Visual Effects (John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel, Neil Corbould).
To top it all off, Star Wars Rebels has also been nominated for an award, in the Best Animated Series or Film on Television category.
The Force Awakens dominated last year’s Saturn Awards, so you can expect to see Rogue One get a lot more love from The Saturn Awards than it did from the Oscars...
Force Material is a podcast exploring the secrets and source material of Star Wars with hosts Rohan Williams and Baz McAlister. Listen and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, Stitcher, PlayerFM and Castro; stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; and support the show by browsing our range of shirts, hoodies, kids apparel, mugs and more at TeePublic.
