Star Wars Return of the Jedi and its Expanded Universe have been retired. Also, expect a new cut of Episodes I through III at some point.
For years, like our universe, the Star Wars "Expanded Universe" universe expanded at an ever-increasing pace: comic books, animated series, conventions, bad holiday specials, video games, theme park rides, spoofs, tie-in novels, YouTube viral videos, Pentagon defense programs, and so on. Some of these filled in back-story on the Intergalatic Republic or Han Solo or certain Ewoks. But others, crucially, told the story post-Return of the Jedi, of Han and Leia's children as well as Luke's wife and child.
With new ownership from Disney and the plans for a new Star Wars movie trilogy covering the story of Han and Leia's children and any Skywalker wife and/or child, it was long expected that Lucasfilm would have to clarify the relationship between the Expanded Universe and its new film, along with the tie-in animated series, books, theme park rides, etc.
Here's the relationship: the new stuff voids the old stuff. You can still buy the old stuff, under the Star Wars "Legends" moniker, but it isn't canon or even quasi-canon. It could be fodder for future canon, but how many of those EU storylines will appear in the new Disneyfied Star Wars remains to be seen.
The stunner, though, was when a Lucasfilm spokesperson confirmed that everything following the iconic "Luke, I am your father" scene is also noncanonical, which includes the end of Empire Strikes Back and the entirety of the third film in the original trilogy, Return of the Jedi (also known as Episode VI), has also been deemed non-canonical.
"George Lucas always told Disney the only truly canonical works were the six films and the latest Clone Wars animated series," said spokeswoman Notta Realperson. "So we were going to go with that. But then Bob Iger [Disney CEO] and Kathleen Kennedy [new head of Lucasfilm] watched the alternative ending over at How It Should Have Ended on YouTube. I mean, have you seen that? After Luke's arm is cut off and he tries to get away by letting go and falling into the giant drop, Vader just grabs him by the Force and pulls him back up. And Bob and Kathleen said, 'yeah, that's what should have happened.' When George conceded he hadn't thought of that, and that it could have happened, we knew we had to go a different direction."
The full Lucasfilm statement further explains,
"While George Lucas tried to create a thrilling and coherent conclusion to his original Star Wars trilogy, we all know that trilogies are very difficult to complete. The new Star Wars timeline will thus erase such unfortunate elements such as the Ewoks and the greatest bounty hunter of all time, Boba Fett, being accidentally killed by a temporarily blind guy. With the new timeline, we have a chance to create a believable logic to the Star Wars Universe like never before. Elements of the 'Legends' Return of the Jedi, like Han and Leia's love story or Luke's face being half-lit so that it is also half-dark, will of course be retained."
As it would be difficult to re-make Return of the Jedi while also making a new trilogy of movies, the re-told third saga of the original trilogy will be retold first in exciting new entries in the Star Wars encyclopedia, Wookiepedia, which will be followed by video games, novels, and the like. As for what to expect from this revised storyline, spokeswoman Notta Realperson commented:
"The details aren't all set, but it's a fantastic storyline. Because Darth Vader has Luke in custody but Luke won't turn to the Dark Side, the Emperor orders Darth to kill his son. When Vader refuses, we get an actual Star War between those elements of the Empire that side with the Emperor and those that follow Vader. On a large scale, that means the Rebellion will be able to step in after a bloody civil war, which when you think about it makes a lot more sense than their little fleet taking over the vast empire by itself. On a human scale, you have Luke's struggle to win over his father while not falling into Darkness himself, and there's plenty for all the other characters to do as well. But it's probably worth mentioning that Boba Fett doesn't die and plays a bigger role than ever."
In a further clarification, Lucasfilm explained that, despite some fans' hopes to the contrary, the events from Episodes I through III are still canon. However, the dialogue would all be re-written and re-dubbed by Disney lackey Joss Whedon, director of Avengers, Avengers 2, and some other obscure but cool stuff. Spokeswoman Notta Realperson explained, "Once we determined there was not an opportunity for a Marvel-Star Wars crossover, we looked for other ways to utilize our cross-brand talent. Bob and Kathleen noted that a lot of the lines in Episodes I through III are real clunkers, and that Joss is the best snappy comeback writer in the business."
Most of the Episode I through III actors will reprise their roles as voice actors, but there will be some notable exceptions. Robert Downey Jr. is rumored to be replacing the voice of Jar Jar Binks. An unnamed source close to the Iron Man quoted him as saying, "They could never afford me, but my kids just begged me to help fix those films. And who can disagree--if you could just replace Jar Jar with someone actually funny, how great would Episode I be?" Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman, both of whom are dying to be in Episodes VII through IX but whose characters are, in fact, dead, are among those expected to return for the re-dubbing.
Also, it should be remembered that many people have sunk a whole lot of their time, energy, and money into those Expanded Universe properties as well, and Lucasfilm has tossed all of that aside. Lucasfilm acknowledges that kind of sucks, but not enough to actually apologize. Instead, they've created a video that memorializes the now-obsolete content which they still hope to sell. "A lot of people love the EU," commented the spokeswoman Notta Realperson, "I mean, probably more people than love the actual European Union-EU. It means a lot to me personally; I was named after Notta Karr, who is better known as the Old Republic Jedi Atton Rand. You know, 'Jaq'? You don't know? Look, a lot of people know what I'm talking about. Really, it's a lot of people. Really."
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