Dawn of the Jedi (live action film by James Mangold) - a general discussion thread

It’s nice to see Star Wars finally getting a “creation myth.”

I hope it’s more than nods and references to the Legends Dawn of the Jedi. It should be an adaptation of that storyline. I’m not saying you need a 1:1 translation of every page, but I would love to see Disney try a faithful adaptation of a Legends storyline for once. Bring it into Disney canon and modernize the presentation for sure, but don’t completely rewrite things and then toss in a few minor easter eggs to the comics and novels. Let us see the Rakata and the Force Hounds as the villains, show the Tho Yor and all the old lore that made the era so rich.

I’m actually pretty interested to see how they handle the Tython v Ahch-To dilemma now. Obviously the comics take place on Tython, which is now in Disney canon from the Mandalorian as an ancient Jedi world, but the Dawn of the Jedi symbol was also on Ach-To, which is halfway across the galaxy. My hope is that they still use Tython for the Je’daii, and then perhaps at the conclusion of the film the Jedi Order can be formed on Ahch-To. Would love to see Ossus included in the storyline too.

Finally, Taika Waititi’s Star Wars film (which is supposedly set 100+ years after Episode 9) was given one promo image at that first Disney Expo it was announced at. And it was a picture of the Tho Yor. So I do believe Disney has had at least some plan in the background to tie in the Dawn of the Jedi content to future events.

They need to tread carefully, Origin stories can be controversial. How Ridley Scott revealed the origin of the Xenomorph in Alien: Covenant was not well received.

Zero interest from me. Does every origin story need to be told? Can’t something ever be left to the imagination?

Superweapon VII said:

Zero interest from me. Does every origin story need to be told? Can’t something ever be left to the imagination?

My feelings exactly. Mystery actually is a benefit not a determent to story telling.

Superweapon VII said:

Zero interest from me. Does every origin story need to be told? Can’t something ever be left to the imagination?

After seeing the Prequel Trilogy, I completely agree.

I do have some hopes for this. Mainly because it is Mangold doing his own thing. I hope so anyway.

Acbagel said:

I hope it’s more than nods and references to the Legends Dawn of the Jedi. It should be an adaptation of that storyline. I’m not saying you need a 1:1 translation of every page, but I would love to see Disney try a faithful adaptation of a Legends storyline for once. Bring it into Disney canon and modernize the presentation for sure, but don’t completely rewrite things and then toss in a few minor easter eggs to the comics and novels. Let us see the Rakata and the Force Hounds as the villains, show the Tho Yor and all the old lore that made the era so rich.

This is where I am at with the project. I hope and want it to be a like-for-like adaptation, though if it isn’t, or is yet another low-level entry into modern Star Wars, then at least we’ll still have the original engaging and revered comic books.

Mangold does tend to do “epic” well, so I hope he is left alone and undisturbed by Disney to complete this.

I agree about maintaining mystery, especially for something this important. I’m not optimistic, it would be nice if it’s well done, but we’ve seen what train wrecks supposed “early history stories” can be from the middle-earth series…

Andor’s Beau Willimon To Co-Write Star Wars: Dawn Of The Jedi With James Mangold - at Empire magazine
 

'Andor was such an unexpected, soaring success that we’re surprised more of the team behind the series hasn’t been snapped up quickly to work on other projects at Lucasfilm. Well, now one of them has – Beau Willimon, who was a core part of Tony Gilroy’s writing team (he scripted the superb mini-arc set in the Narkina 5 prison complex), is now aboard to co-write big screen effort Star Wars: Dawn Of The Jedi with director James Mangold.

Mangold – who previously directed Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny for Lucasfilm – has been working on the script but also turning his attention to production on his Bob Dylan biodrama A Complete Unknown. So it makes sense him adding a co-writer to work on the Star Wars project currently known as Dawn Of The Jedi, which was announced last year at Star Wars Celebration in London.

“It takes place 25,000 years before Episode IV, and it’s about the discovery of the Force,” Mangold told Empire at the event. “I told Kathy [Kennedy, head of Lucasfilm] I wanted to make a kind of Bible movie, a kind of Ten Commandments of Star Wars – kind of a Cecil B. DeMille film about the arrival of the Force, and that’s what I’ve been pecking away at between press events. That’s the idea.”

And that’s not the only Star Wars news to emerge — we now know that the likely next big screen story set in the galaxy far, far away, The Mandalorian & Grogu, has been set for a 22 May, 2026 release date.’

Good to see the talents from Andor working on other Star Wars projects. I hope we see more of that.

Wish they’d just adapt the Dawn of the Jedi novel/comics from the EU. I really want to see Disney Star Wars attempt a genuine and faithful EU adaptation to live action, and the Old Republic/Dawn era is a perfect place to experiment with this.