The galaxy far, far away just can’t be stopped! Lucasfilm’s Star Wars franchise just keeps sliding into our to-binge lists. With Andor taking command of Disney+ and other series coming to the streaming platform as well, we can’t wait to see what Disney continues to churn out — especially after catching wind that writer Damon Lindelof and director Shawn Levy are both helming future films in the galaxy far, far away.

In the meantime, however, we took time to investigate what could possibly be left for Star Wars to adapt and bring to life. Turns out there are a number of novels and even Star Wars stories published by Marvel Comics that are up for grabs. Considering Disney’s MCU has proven successful at adapting Marvel’s literature for the screen, and creating the highest-grossing movie franchise of all time in doing so, it would seem like an obvious idea to carry over the same method to their Star Wars franchise. Here’s a closer look at why adapting novels and comic books could work well for Disney on either the big or small screen.

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History of the Star Wars Franchise

     Lucasfilm Ltd.

Going back to square one, the space opera film series created by George Lucas became one of the most successful and influential franchises in motion picture history. Kicking off in the 70s and 80s, and resuscitated at the turn of the 21st Century, the Star Wars films continually advanced the field of special effects and developed into an enormously lucrative merchandising industry.

Lucas’ success as a writer and director with American Graffiti (1973) had gained him the backing of 20th Century Fox. When A New Hope was released in 1977, it was a huge success. The plot, as we all know, focuses on Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), a young man who finds himself embroiled in an interplanetary war between an authoritarian empire and rebel forces. Skywalker and smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) are tasked with saving Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) from captivity on a massive space station commanded by the menacing Darth Vader. And from there, the rest is history!

When Lucas developed the storyline and crafted soon-to-be iconic characters, he tapped into elements of theology, mysticism, and mythology, as well as his knowledge of classic films. And there’s nothing subtle about the historical allusion in Star Wars. After all, the elite assault forces fanatically devoted to the Galactic Empire share a common name with the paramilitary fighters who defended the Nazi Party: stormtroopers. If Disney continues to tap into the plethora of Star Wars texts (books, comics etc.), there will surely be ample opportunity to continue to draw clever, enlightening parallels to the troubles of society today.

Novels and Comics That Could Be Adapted

     Marvel Comics

That brings us to the ultimate question: What’s left to adapt? On the comic book front, Star Wars: Kanan is a juicy plotline that follows Caleb Dume as he becomes a Padawan. Order 66 occurs, leading to Caleb — now Kanan — going on the run. Meanwhile, Star Wars: Lando follows the titular wise guy as he accidentally steals the Emperor’s private Yacht, while also giving the true story of Lobot. And let’s not forget Lords of the Sith, which sees Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader ambushed and stranded on Ryloth, with their lightsabers and the Force to guide them as their relationship is put to the ultimate test.

On the novels front, as outlined by Screen Rant, there’s Lost Stars by Claudia Gray, which is set during the original trilogy, but gives readers a completely new perspective on the events, told through the eyes of two childhood friends — Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree — who find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict after starting off together at the Imperial Academy. Then, there’s Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge: A Crash of Fate by Zoraida Córdova, which is a good reminder of just how big the Star Wars universe was. In this book, we read about an entirely different pair of childhood friends, Izzy and Jules, on Batuu; that is, until Izzy’s family suddenly left. More than a decade later, Jules is a farmer on Batuu, and Izzy is a smuggler who’s back on the planet for a job, and they meet again. Another fan-favorite book is Queen’s Shadow by E.K. Johnston, which follows Padmé after she ends her reign as Queen and is then asked to become Naboo’s senator. When she does so, she finds she has to navigate a whole new set of rules and get used to a new life.

Why Page to Screen Adaptations Would Work

     Lucasfilm

On a technical level, it’s true that Star Wars fans love the dazzling special effects, marvelous set pieces, and thrilling action sequences. But sometimes, the films better succeed on a character level, and that’s where the exciting new storylines come in. Thanks to the handful of Disney+ series (The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor) we’ve embraced over the past few years, we’ve been able to learn more about the edgy, sometimes dark backstories of our favorite Star Wars characters. The novels and books listed above offer juicy new opportunities to delve into the histories of both protagonists and villains from past films. Despite her trilogy’s list of criticisms, let’s not forget the powerful performances turned by Natalie Portman as Padmé in Episodes I, II and III. And speaking of Disney — it’s clear that Marvel is releasing a nonstop stream of content surrounding its superheroes. If the galaxy far, far away wants to keep up with that, it should take a closer look at some of Star Wars’ acclaimed, published text.