Plot Details From A Leaked Draft of Star Wars Episode VII - SPOILERS INSIDE
- Wednesday, September 10, 2014
This is just the beginning. Episode VII has resumed filming, cameras have been rolling for awhile now, and from now until its release on December 18th, 2015, there will be news like this trying to predict or pick apart what Episode VII will be. This is just the latest iteration, but it contains some interesting tidbits and corroborates some of what we've heard already.
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The following news reportedly comes from the second draft JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan wrote for Star Wars: Episode VII. The leak originates from a 4chan thread, here. I've copied the post text itself below, and again, MASSIVE SPOILERS POTENTIALLY FOLLOW. If you don't want to know anything at all about Episode VII, this article is not for you.
That said, read on.
- Leia is made leader of the Republic after her predecessor's death
- Han is a retired veteran of the Republic fleet
- Luke hasn't been seen in nearly 30 years
- The lead character is Han and Leia's daughter
- The other lead is the child of Lando, and either a male or female depending on who is cast
- The other lead is a Stormtrooper, also either a male or female depending on who is cast
- Dialogue for these two characters is very rough in the second draft
- Luke has no known offspring
- The Empire still exists in the form of a number of loyal galaxies and are in a state of cold war with the Republic
- The Empire is simply referred to as the "Empire," and the Republic is referred to formally only once, as the "Galactic Republic;" no "New" anywhere
- There are no Jedi whatsoever, and people still speak as if they are extinct, with Luke being "the last of his kind"
- The main antagonists are an older student of the Emperor, and his apprentice
- The apprentice takes control of the power dynamic between the two pretty quickly...
- The Republic are excavating ruins on a neutral world for a weapon; the world factors into tense negotiations the Empire have had with the Republic, and is referred to as the "Sith Homeworld"
- Loredump: In the script, the Sith are a couple thousand years old, founded by an ancestor of Palpatine called Ruin; the apprentice in this film also goes by that name
- The ruins within the Sith Homeworld are a control station; the planet itself is the weapon
- Luke saves the day at the end, but in a bad way; he has changed
Wow. There is a lot of stuff here. Let's break it down a few chunks at a time.
The fate of the original trio—Luke, Han, and Leia—is pretty straightforward. Leia's in charge of things, Han's retired (and still flying around the galaxy, though in a different ship, having lost the Falcon in a game, I hear). Luke has gone the Obi-Wan route and disappeared.
The new leads indicate an interesting direction for the story. One main character, naturally, is Han and Leia's daughter. Makes total sense in continuing the story. Another lead is Lando's kid, which is a nice touch. That gives us two central, if you will, characters. These are people who come from the thick of it, from the heart of the Galactic Republic. Side note: that name, I think, will change. There were clear dividing lines between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire in the original trilogy, and this new one is certainly going to try and channel that. And a reversal of position between the trilogies is an interesting idea, a small but well-armed collection of Imperial sympathizers and the larger Galactic Republic.
But the other lead, this says, is a Stormtrooper. This is interesting, because the new trilogy, Episodes I-III, seemed to establish that Stormtroopers were all clones, and of Jango/Boba Fett, no less. Perhaps the Empire has run out of clones, or the capability to create them, in this era? Having an Imperial main character, and a grunt no less, gives us more of a fringe character (as opposed to the central ones above). This is someone who can tell some of the other side of the story, and who might also be more unpredictable in their development.
Now, what I've heard about the basic plot says that two new characters end up flying with Han and Chewie (again, in some new vessel) as they search for Luke. Apparently Luke exiled himself a number of years ago after no one believed him about some threat, and now they know he's right and are trying to seek him out. This could be the pair of offspring, Han and Leia's daughter and Lando's child. It's possible, too, that the Stormtrooper character could be involved in this. Maybe he or she got left behind after a battle or was taken prisoner. Either way, they all find Luke, and the rest of this plot dovetails with what's above: the group goes thwart the threat of the Sith Homeworld, which is I've heard tell is a planet-weapon capable of destroying solar systems.
It's a little derivative, if so. The original trilogy had a moon-like space station, a Death Star capable of annihilating a planet... so in THIS trilogy, we'll have a whole planet be a weapon, and it can control the next biggest thing, a whole solar system! Shades of Michael Bay, almost, unless it's well-handled. It makes some sense to employ such a doomsday weapon if the Empire is trying to take back their rule; just blast all of the dissenting systems to smithereens until there's nothing left but Empire. I must say, I like the idea of the Empire being in "a state of cold war" with the Republic. It's a less overt conflict, one that feels protracted and lengthy. It makes sense—although the Death Star, Emperor, and Darth Vader were destroyed at the end of Return of the Jedi, it stands to reason that in an entire galaxy, there would be other bases or centers of power owned by the Imperials. Entire other fleets, even, and Grand Moffs to run them.
A lack of Jedi is another cool factor. It's another thing that makes the Return of the Jedi victory hollow, an incomplete victory, a battle rather than the war. With the Sith destroyed and Luke now a Jedi Knight, it might have been assumed that the Jedi would return. Much of the Expanded Universe material takes this path. It's a much bleaker universe without the lighter side of the Force, and that tells us something about the tone of this film, especially in concert with the "cold war" and "tense negotiations" between the Republic and Empire. I doubt Luke will actually prove to be "the last of his kind," but it's a nice setup.
The new Sith villains make for a new dynamic as well. Another student of the Emperor's makes sense, as Palpatine was looking to replace Vader with Luke at his side anyway. I've even heard tell Palpatine shows up in this trilogy as a force ghost, a la Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. Let's assume for a moment Palpatine left this unheard-of pupil's training incomplete due to, y'know, being tossed down into the core of the collapsing Death Star by his other student. He could be overtaken in knowledge and ability by his apprentice, who "takes over the power dynamic between the two pretty quickly." Maybe the would-be master isn't moving as quickly or with as much drive as the apprentice thinks is necessary, and so is deposed. There are exciting hints about the nature of the villains within this leak.
The most intriguing bit, however, I think comes last. "Luke saves the day at the end, but in a bad way; he has changed." Hot damn. This could mean so, so many things. My initial thought is that Luke has to tap into the Dark Side of the Force to save the day, maybe to destroy the planet-weapon or the planet itself. That would be a bad way to save the day, and it would change him. After that, too, what happens to him? Does he fall prey to the Dark Side like his father before him? Does Luke become the new villain for the remainder of the trilogy? This is pure speculation, but I would watch those movies. And maybe he doesn't go full Dark Side, but I would bet he has to use questionable techniques with the Force in order to save the day.
All that said, I think that while it's laudable and sensible to draw upon the more beloved Star Wars trilogy for inspiration in shaping this new one, I hope they don't mine it too heavily. This is for two reasons: one, the Star Wars universe is open and rich enough that any number of new, entertaining stories could be (and have been) crafted that would satisfy the masses and the fanboys alike. They don't necessarily have to trade on the merits of what came before.
Secondly, however, I hope this trilogy doesn't undermine the original, either. By that, for example, I refer to the continued existence of the Empire in Episode VII. The ending of Return of the Jedi was meant to suggest that the threat was over, the good guys had won. The end. Happily ever after. While I acknowledged that it makes sense the Empire would still exist in some form, again, it cheapens the original to a certain degree. Similarly, say Luke falls prey to the Dark Side totally. That makes his emotional journey across basically the entirety of the original trilogy moot. By Return of the Jedi, the point is that he resists the darkness inside him, like it was inside his father, and stays true to the lighter side of the Force. He has beaten temptation and the Emperor, and this is compounded by Darth Vader's own redemption, having been saved by his son's mercy. Even if Luke finds the lighter side again by the end of the trilogy, it's basically a rehash of his journey in the first trilogy. Basically, I hope this trilogy doesn't use plot points at the expense of the original trilogy.
Those fears aside, because I'm probably just being alarmist, there are really interesting nuggets of information here and we can only hope that at the end of all this, they add up to a good movie. We'll have to wait another year or so to find out, but again, hopefully it'll be worth the wait. See anything you like here? Things you didn't? Fight about it below, Fanboys and Fangirls.
