Star Wars Looks Like It's Going Piratey Again
Putting the “ar” in “Star Wars.”
Star Wars is an entire universe, and there’s room for every kind of story in it, from the space operas to the space westerns to, yes, even holiday specials. But the franchise doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and often reflects real-world trends, like early 2000s animation or prestige TV. In recent years, Star Wars has gone back to one subgenre again and again, and according to the latest look at an upcoming Star Wars movie, that’s not going to end any time soon.
Even though there are multiple Star Wars movies in development, Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter was seemingly fast-tracked to production. Starring Ryan Gosling, Star Wars: Starfighter is set in an untouched part of the Star Wars universe, rumored to be five years after The Rise of Skywalker. Now, we have our first look at what the movies will look like, courtesy of an Instagram post from Levy showing Gosling and young star Flynn Gray in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.
This image begs one question for Star Wars fans: what planet could this ocean be on? It’s the Mediterranean Sea (Levy tags Sardinia, Italy), leading some to believe it’s the oceans on Naboo, since Naboo scenes were filmed in Italy. But there are other options too, like Mon Cala or even the water moon of Trask that Frog Lady came from in The Mandalorian episode “The Heiress.”
Looking at the vast, blue ocean and the badass costumes the actors are wearing, this image screams one vibe in particular: pirates. A space piracy story is certainly tempting, as it’s ripe for adventure and swashbuckling like an old-fashioned pulp fiction novel. The problem is that so many other Star Wars stories have done the “space pirates” thing.
“The Heiress,” Bo-Katan Kryze’s debut episode of The Mandalorian, takes place on the high seas of Trask.
The aforementioned episode of The Mandalorian, “The Heiress,” is a big pirate story that introduces the live-action version of Bo-Katan Kryze, who is shown as living as a pirate taking over Empire remnant ships on Trask. Then, just last year, Jon Watts’ Skeleton Crew told a Star-Wars-ified version of Treasure Island, taking the pirate genre as far as it could go without actually showing an ocean.
Hopefully, the mere fact that an ocean appears doesn’t mean that Star Wars is doomed to make pirate stories for the foreseeable future. But another pirate-tinged story might be going back to this well one time too many. Hopefully, the more we see of Starfighter, the more unique it will seem.
