Andy Weir, the acclaimed author behind "The Martian" and "Project Hail Mary," has shared his vision for how the Star Wars franchise could be revitalized, suggesting a return to the Galactic Civil War era but with a focus on new characters and untold narratives.
In an interview with SlashFilm, Weir expressed that the essence of Star Wars lies in "massive upheaval." He posited that introducing new monumental wars after the previous ones have concluded can be unsatisfying for audiences. Instead, he proposed treating the established canon of the Galactic Civil War as a backdrop, similar to how World War II has served as the setting for countless fictional stories.
"The best way, in my opinion, to do another Star Wars movie... would be to have the story of other people during the Galactic Civil War," Weir explained. "Think of it like this: We know what happened in World War II, but there are some really good fictional stories that take place during World War II. So if you treat the Galactic Civil War as, 'Okay, that's established canon, those are the things that happened,' but there's still a lot of stories to tell about other people living through those wars."
Weir lauded the Disney+ series "Andor" for its exploration of characters and their roles in the rebellion leading up to the Galactic Civil War. However, he felt its sprawling narrative was best suited for a television series format rather than a two-hour film. "Andor was amazing and really good, and it was a series and [that was the correct choice]," he stated. "You're going to do a movie, you've got to tell your whole story in like two hours. So it needs to have a lot more — 'Andor' was very intellectual, extremely clever, extraordinarily well-written, very well — I mean, I loved everything about it. But it's not something that you could make into a movie."
This discussion about Star Wars follows recent comments from Weir regarding artificial intelligence, where he expressed a somber outlook on its proliferation in creative fields, suggesting he "might be among the last generation of fully human writers."