The Mandalorian

[Captain Crimson]

That was so amazing to see the Luke Skywalker we should have gotten, and honestly, I think the FX team outdid themselves here. They really deserve to win an award.

At the same time, I hate to be a killjoy, but... I really feel sorry for those who are getting caught up in the hype, who desperately believe this is proof they're just going to retcon the ST. Ignoring my own biases, mind you, I see little to indicate that's the management's approach at all.

What we have is the new RS set after the DSWST. And TM is just now going to explore the early days of the First Order. Come on. Mr. Favreau himself admitted this! And while continuity may be extremely loose in the DSWC, I consider it to be no more unique or broken than the run of ST in the '90s. ST has also had a very fast and loose relationship with continuity, as well. This shouldn't be a surprise to anybody! So how is it we keep falling for cheap gimmicks and nostalgia bait?

I think given LF's general disrespect to the fans and underestimating the intelligence of their consumers, they wouldn't dare retcon the DSWST with these TV shows because it would "confuse" people! Confuse casuals, which is all they want, the hipsters who latch to the hot new thing. They don't give us new SWL because they think it would confuse people, so would presenting an alternative to what was in the ST movies.

It's entirely possible the fate of Grogu will tie into where Luke ends up in the DSWST. TCW S7 tied into SWIII, and we're seeing this more and more. That it is a connected universe same as the old EU. And the old EU may have had some problems, sure, but it wasn't as chaotic as the outsiders would have you think.

Look, to those users who liked it, I'm happy for you, really. But if you also hated the ST, then you REALLY need to be on guard. I see little evidence to suggest the ST are going to be discarded entirely. At best, ignored for a while, then given soft retcons. That's what LF has been doing for a while now, and it's not going to change any time soon.

[Riedquat]

Not using a CGI Luke would have been a step up. Either recast or just don’t use him at all. I would have been perfectly fine with a new actor taking over the role.

I don't like recastings but it's the lesser evil when actors end up too old for the roles. And sometimes they work out well enough.

[Makeshift Python]

Being attached to one actor that you can’t accept anyone else in the role is fucking weird.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Being attached to one actor that you can’t accept anyone else in the role is fucking weird.

Being attached as a fan, yes.

[Captain Crimson]

This is the one thing that's upset me lately. TM is great so far, at least by the other standards of DSWC.

But... really, why should I care when I know where this is going? When we know that the end result in the next few decades is Luke guzzling milk off a space otter? I mean, TLJ just did so much damage, if only it had reined in the excesses, and left it ambiguous as to whether or not Luke had died, then you could have had a much stronger story. But no. Mr. Johnson was determined to go completely over the top with his movie, even by silly SW norms, and that was to the DSWC's detriment.

Because it's not like the EU wasn't stranger to this kind of territory. TSC is easily one of the worst SWEU books, mostly due to Luke's botched characterization, and yet I'd say the attention to detail actually vastly outpaces even NEU in terms of a standalone story, which is what they appear to want from the NEU since they hate paying the old EU authors royalties (RIP SWL). So if they'd just left Luke alive, then future stories could pick up on it, and gave him a more dignified send-off, one that wasn't in the same film where he's literally reduced to a giant baby-man. That's how you handle long-term arcs. The old EU matured, the storylines got better. There's no reason the DSW couldn't have taken the same approach.

I think S1's biggest strengths was being isolated from the rest of the DSWC, and I think bringing back all these main characters is a mistake. You can feel the echoes to the lack of planning even here. Din Djarin has been sidelined in his own show from the second Grogu showed up, and I'm convinced Boba Fett will soon replace him. But we've already had tons of great Boba Fett stories in the EU. Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Grogu... and now we hear about a rematch between Vader and Obi-Wan in the Kenobi series that SC 38 already did, and I mean... why couldn't TM just be a simple story of a bounty hunter doing his job in a post-Endor timeline, without any connection to anything else? The old Kenobi novel did that really well.

I just see too many of my friends falling for the nostalgia bait, and yes, it's amazing to see Luke back in action as we should have got him, it's also gonna be great to have more Boba Fett, but... I mean, if you hated the DSWST, we know where it leads. We know. If you think they're going to retcon, then I'm sorry, but it's just not gonna happen. This is going to become the exploration of the First Order as to how they wound up where they first depicted in TFA. While it may be possible, there is far more evidence to suggest that won't be the way they handle things at all. Ms. Kennedy is not going anywhere, her contract will be renewed. No way it won't.

How is it any different to watch how Luke runs and hides and gives up than being told that after the fact? I mean, it just boggles my mind.