Veteran Star Wars journalist Lewis Glazebrook (Screen Rant) explains how the Mandoverse saga (The Mandalorian, Ahsoka) is fundamentally replacing The Force Awakens as the true spiritual sequel to the Original Trilogy.
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| Star Wars: The Force Awakens |
A Decade of Disturbance: The Unexpected Sequel We Actually Needed
Lewis Glazebrook, a veteran voice in Star Wars commentary at Screen Rant, has laid out an argument that I find compelling and impossible to ignore: ten years after the Disney era’s official start, The Mandoverse has effectively taken the place of The Force Awakens's narrative intent. We must remember that when The Force Awakens was released in 2015, the ambition was clear: to relaunch the biggest sci-fi franchise in history. But while it was a commercial success, the path it forged—one that erased much of the hard-won peace from the Original Trilogy—felt like a retreat, not an advance. The current slate of Disney+ shows—dubbed the The Mandoverse by fans—is now quietly, yet systematically, building the true post-Return of the Jedi story that many believed Episode VII was meant to deliver.
This narrative, spanning The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka, operates as a more direct and natural continuation, tackling the complexities of the New Republic and the rise of a new threat in a grounded, serialized manner. It’s a slow burn that honors the legacy of the original heroes while building a fresh foundation, rather than resetting the board entirely. I believe this distinction is key to understanding why fans are currently connecting with this corner of the galaxy far, far away more deeply than they did with the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
What the Mandoverse Delivers That The Force Awakens Couldn’t
The disappointment with the Star Wars sequel trilogy often centered on its narrative decisions, which many critics found repetitive, derivative, or lacking a clear, cohesive long-term plan. The Force Awakens essentially gave us a bigger Death Star and another scrappy resistance fighting a new Empire, which felt too familiar. The Mandoverse, conversely, is embracing the wider implications of the Imperial defeat and the fragile peace that followed, introducing nuanced political intrigue within the New Republic that we never truly saw in the films. The inclusion of fan-favorite characters is another massive point of difference. The Mandoverse has brought back a prime-era Luke Skywalker—a wise, powerful Jedi Master training the next generation—a role many desperately wanted to see in the films but which was largely glossed over, resulting in the older, disillusioned Luke we met on Ahch-To. Even more critically, the television universe is setting the stage for the definitive Star Wars villain of the era: Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn, known as the "Heir to the Empire" in classic expanded universe literature, brings a non-Force-sensitive, purely tactical threat that elevates the stakes beyond another Sith Lord. This is the compelling, high-stakes enemy fans have been waiting for, and his introduction through the Ahsoka series has set up a massive cinematic finale in Dave Filoni's upcoming film, fulfilling the promise of a true Episode VII story. The Mandoverse is not just another story; it is the organic, post-Jedi story fans actually expected.
Recasting the Original Trilogy Heroes and Lucasfilm's Creative Decisions
The shift in narrative focus towards the Mandoverse is inextricably linked to creative decisions made at the highest levels of Lucasfilm. This is where the topic of recasting the beloved Original Trilogy heroes becomes crucial, a point Lewis Glazebrook also highlights in his detailed h2 analysis. While The Force Awakens leaned heavily on the original cast (Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa, and Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker), their roles were transitional, primarily serving to pass the torch to Rey, Finn, and Poe. The Mandoverse, operating a few years after Return of the Jedi, could offer substantive roles for these heroes. However, the studio appears hesitant to recast them. We saw a younger Luke Skywalker appear in The Mandalorian season 2 finale and The Book of Boba Fett, but only through the use of de-aging and deepfake technology. The visuals, while passable, proved divisive, and the uncanny valley effect was often jarring. According to reporting, Lucasfilm’s high command has drawn what may be the "wrong lesson" from the box office underperformance of Solo: A Star Wars Story, which featured a recast Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich). Their current stance suggests that recasting the Original Trilogy characters is simply "not an option".
This restriction forces the Mandoverse to rely on deepfakes or sidelining characters like Luke and Leia. While the Mandoverse has found great success focusing on new characters like Din Djarin and Grogu, this underlying fear of recasting, mentioned in the h2 context, puts a creative ceiling on how deeply the New Republic's story can be explored, especially if the original heroes cannot have a big, organic presence as new actors. Lucasfilm must eventually confront the question of which is a greater narrative risk: a divisive deepfake or a new, talented actor honoring a legacy role.
Will the Mandoverse Truly Replace the Sequels as the Definitive Post-Jedi Narrative?
Absolutely. The evidence suggests that, in the eyes of the dedicated fan base and increasingly the studio itself, the The Mandoverse has surpassed the Star Wars sequel trilogy in shaping the future of the Star Wars saga. The key difference lies in its approach to continuity and fan service: it doesn't just reference the past; it builds upon it organically, offering the kind of world-building the films rushed through. The Mandoverse is successfully integrating the legacy characters (Luke Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano) into a narrative featuring compelling new heroes (Din Djarin, Grogu) while establishing an antagonist of monumental scale in Grand Admiral Thrawn. The eventual culmination of this storyline in a theatrical film, as announced by Lucasfilm, will complete the cycle, giving fans the cohesive Episode VII they felt they were promised a decade ago. It's a testament to the power of serialized storytelling that a streaming universe has managed to course-correct the franchise's direction where a major film trilogy struggled. By providing a direct, consistent, and emotionally resonant continuation of the Original Trilogy timeline, The Force Awakens is now less of a foundation and more of a narrative detour. The real continuation is happening right here, on our televisions. The only remaining question for us, the audience, is: will this New Episode 7 manage to avoid the divisiveness that plagued its cinematic predecessors, finally uniting the fandom?
Quick Facts: The Mandoverse as the New Star Wars Saga Starter
Essential details on why Disney+ series are replacing The Force Awakens as the definitive post-Jedi narrative.
| Data Point | Value / Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Authoring Analyst | Lewis Glazebrook | Screen Rant Senior Staff Writer |
| Event Timeline | 10 Years after The Force Awakens release | Screen Rant Article Content |
| Key Replacement Element | Grand Admiral Thrawn & New Republic Politics | Narrative shift detailed in Screen Rant article |