Is it clear which works are considered canon and which ones are not?
It’s very binary in the Disney era. All the theatrical movies, the 2008 Clone Wars TV show, Rebels, and all the rest of the Disney-era TV shows are canon, as are all of the novels, comics, games etc released during the Disney era. Everything else is non-canon. Lucasfilm maintains a tight grip on canon and that’s a big part of what Pablo Hidalgo’s job is all about.
Before the Disney-era, the concept of canon in the Star Wars Expanded Universe was more complicated and fluid, and relied on ‘tiers’ of canon with the movies at the top, the TV shows next, certain novels next, etc. The idea of canon back then was that anything in the one of the lower tiers could be canon as long as it wasn’t contradicted by something in a higher tier. For example, if somebody wrote an EU novel that said that Anakin loved sand, that would be non-canon because it’s directly contradicted by Attack of the Clones; but if they wrote a novel that said Padme loved sand, that might be canon if there’s nothing in the higher tiers of canon to contradict it.
That’s very illuminating. Thank you for the explanation.
I didn’t know about any of the old expanded universe
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It’s not precisely that the old EU and canon overlap, but that the entire old EU has been thrown out. Within the fresh slate of new canon there are elements that are picked up and re-canonized, though they are changed to fit into the new canon.
Classic EU characters, ships, planets, etc might appear but that doesn’t imply the old stories they are associated with are also canon.
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I get what you’re saying now. I actually double checked myself and the buyout happened in 2012, but the erasure of the old EU happened after 2014.
So there was slightly over two year period where Disney owned Star Wars with the old EU in place. A few books and things released then. Those few Disney released old EU stories were still turned into Legends like the rest of pre-Disney EU.
Thank you
Is this an explicit division of Canon?
And none of the books have ever been considered Canon as far as you know?
What is her is not part of the Star wars universe was never explicitly stated by Lucas or by Disney right?
So is this general consensus by fans?
I think they missed the Disney shows which are of course canon.
I’m in the minority here, but I consider Obi-wan especially to be primary canon, as necessary as Movies 1-6. They retconned in the emotional core of the whole damn saga with Obi-wan and fully realized Vader’s confrontation and resolution. That moment truly bridged the OT and prequels for me like nothing else had.
Disney’s stated policy is that there is no longer primary/secondary canon. There is (at least supposed to be) a storygroup working for Disney to ensure everything they make fits together because everything is equally canon.
In practice, there have already been issues but that’s how it’s supposed to work.
Good point, thanks. I’m surprised to hear that you’re in the minority for the Obi-Wan series being canon, Ewan McGregor is so Obi-Wan to me that I just assumed that show was cannon as well
Im not in the minority of acknowledging it being canon, I’m in the minority calling it essential canon. A lot of people hated it for its B story that I personally thought was fine.
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It is an explicit division made by Disney. They threw out everything in order to make room for their own stories. All of the old pre-2014 books are non-canon. Any books freshly released after 2014 would be canon.
Oh that’s very interesting, thanks
Wookieepedia classifies things as canon or legend. I’m not sure how authoritative it is, but it is comprehensive and is good about citing references.
Oh that’s a good point. I know about Wookiepedia but I haven’t visited it yet. I will.
Thank you
Disney would have the list. They decanonised all but the movies and other properties they got with lucasfilms. They have expanded the list, but I haven’t looked at it.
Oh they have an actual list. Interesting. Thank you
Going to piggyback. When Disney got the rights and wiped out the old Expanded Universe, what was left were the original trilogy, the prequels, and the Clone Wars (the 3D one) cartoon. Everything else was decanonized.
Under Disney, there was a promise to make every story produced under their control of rights to be canon, and equally canon rather than the tiered system of the old Expanded Universe. There have already been canon conflicts, but generally speaking if it was freshly made after 2014, it is canon.
The old EU works that are being reprinted are labeled “Legends”.
Oh, I was wondering what Legends referred to. Thank you.
So all of the comics and everything before 2012 is just considered legends. That’s really interesting, thanks!
Yes although a slight correction to myself. Disney bought Star Wars in 2012, but only made the Legends change in 2014.
In the past, only the movies were canon. The rest was considered non canon by George Lucas. I have no idea if that policy has changed since Lucas’ departure or not.
Okay, thanks. That’s exactly what I’m curious about.
Not precisely. The Lucasfilm group licensed and approved official EU material. There were certain limitations placed such as up until the prequels avoiding the Clone Wars era in EU fiction, and avoiding elaborating on Yoda’s race. George Lucas did have some direct contact with EU authors for feedback.
The old EU used a tiered system of canon, where George Lucas sat at the top and his dictates would override anything else. But if Lucas didn’t override a piece of EU, it was canon.
Link with the tiers.
https://screenrant.com/star-wars-old-canon-system-explained/
That’s old. It all changed in 2014.
From Wikipedia:
On April 25, 2014, Lucasfilm rebranded the Expanded Universe material as Star Wars Legends and declared it non-canonical to the franchise.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_in_other_media#Holocron_database_and_canonicity
And from Wookiepedia:
On April 25, 2014, in preparation for the upcoming feature films, Lucasfilm announced that the Expanded Universe was rebranded as Legends, thus, the term “canon” come to be reserved exclusively for George Lucas’ canon - the six movies and the seasons of Star Wars: The Clone Wars he developed and producered - and the movies, television series, novels, comics, toys and video games created by Lucasfilm after the acquisition. Since then, the only previously published material still considered canon are the six original trilogy/prequel trilogy films, novels (where they align with what is seen on screen), the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series and film, and Part I of the short story Blade Squadron.
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Canon
So, as a rule of thumb, only products coming from Lucasfilm directly are considered canon.
I remembered this because I was an active 501st member and remember the uproar when the EU was left out of the canon. A lot of people was pissed with the decision. But it is what it is.
Yes… I know. I was describing how the old EU canon worked, in response to a comment about the old system.
