7 Non-Canon Star Wars Projects We Want To See After The Ninth Jedi

Published Jul 18, 2026, 7:30 PM EDT Since 2019, Kevin Erdmann has been one of Screen Rant's Senior Staff Writers, covering all kinds of Superhero and Star Wars media with Easter egg breakdowns, theory pieces, breaking news, and more. A huge Star Wars & MCU fan, Kevin also loves Batman (because he's Batman), but could talk for hours about why Nightwing is DC's greatest hero. With 8 years of total experience covering entertainment and pop culture, Kevin has gotten the chance to interview top creatives and talent, and has also attended major media events like Disney's D23 convention. Majoring in Cinema Studies with a minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies from the UofO, Kevin lives in Oregon with his wonderful wife, adorable dog, and sinister cat who is no doubt currently plotting his demise. Sign in to your ScreenRant account While Disney/Lucasfilm continues to maintain the established Star Wars timeline and canon, recent years have seen a handful of non-canon projects as well. The most prominent is Star Wars: Visions, the anthology series where various anime studios create non-canon stories and characters inspired by the galaxy far, far away, but not beholden to its continuity. It's a fantastic series that has produced some fascinating stories, including the world of The Ninth Jedi and its upcoming spin-off series. With Visions, there's no worrying about how these new stories fit into the established continuity, and creators have an impressive amount of freedom to experiment with visual styles, new Force philosophies, as well as original heroes and villains. Without question, the impressive result has been some of the freshest and most inspired Star Wars storytelling in years. As The Ninth Jedi is set to evolve into its own full series in August, it's fun to think about what other ways Lucasfilm could make use of non-canon stories. From classic Legends stories to "What If...?" scenarios, here are some fun ideas for non-canon Star Wars stories we'd love to see adapted sometime in the franchise's future. Star Wars: Visions Vol. 4 While it hasn't been officially confirmed just yet, the hope is that Star Wars: Visions Volume 4 is already in the works. Each previous season has introduced exciting concepts and characters, many of which couldn't exist in the official Star Wars timeline, which is exactly why the anthology series often works so well. It's a true celebration of the Star Wars mythology and its ability to inspire/generate new ideas and stories. Whether it's the black-and-white galaxy of the Sith Ronin inspired by the Kurosawa samurai films that inspired George Lucas, or The Ninth Jedi and its unique lightsabers that change color and reflect their wielders' inner alignment, Star Wars: Visions continues to deliver with each new season of the anthology series. As such, there's no doubt that another volume of episodes could keep the inspiration and epic new concepts going. While The Old Republic remains one of Star Wars' richest eras in Legends, the official Star Wars canon has barely scratched the surface with mere drops in the bucket. Of course, Lucasfilm could very well tell its own version of this period eventually for the current canon. However, it can certainly be argued that a non-canonical adaptation of the lore from the classic Knights of the Old Republic games and novels could be a great way for Lucasfilm to capitalize on the period with guaranteed success. Characters like Darth Revan, Bastila Shan, Darth Malak, and Meetra Surik remain some of the franchise's most popular creations despite never appearing in modern canon (just a handful of references). That particularly goes for Revan, a powerful Jedi corrupted by the dark side as a Sith who eventually finds his way back to the light. Presenting some kind of animated or live-action adaptation as a clearly labeled alternate timeline would allow Lucasfilm to stay faithful to the beloved games and comics without worrying about contradictions to current canon. Likewise, an adaptation like that would absolutely have a built-in fanbase. If Marvel Studios can make a massively popular series set in the old animated Marvel Universe of the 90s with X-Men '97, the same could theoretically be done for Knights of the Old Republic. Colin Trevorrow's Duel of the Fates Few canceled Star Wars projects have generated as much fascination as Colin Trevorrow's original script and vision for Episode IX, before Disney replaced him with J.J. Abrams. Between leaked scripts, concept art, and story outlines, fans have gotten a surprisingly detailed look at the Star Wars: Duel of the Fates movie that might have been. A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Star Wars? “The Force will be with you. Always.” 🗡️Jedi OrderLight-side guardians ⚡The SithRule of two ⚙️The RebellionA new hope 🪓Bounty HuntersThis is the way 👑The EmpireOrder 66 PUNCH IT! → 01 The original Star Wars film — later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope — opened in just 32 American theatres and proceeded to become the highest-grossing film of its era, redefining what summer blockbusters could be. In which year did it premiere? A1975 B1977 C1979 D1980 ✓ Correct! 1977 — specifically May 25. 20th Century Fox had so little faith in the project they only opened it in 32 theatres at first; queues quickly stretched around the block, and the film expanded to over 1,000 screens within months. It earned $307 million in its initial domestic run, won six Academy Awards (with another four nominations) and inverted Hollywood’s economics for the next 50 years. ✗ Wrong. The answer is 1977. 1975 is when the script was being shopped around. 1979 is when Star Trek: The Motion Picture released as a Star Wars-shaped countermove. 1980 is The Empire Strikes Back. The original Star Wars is May 25, 1977. NEXT → 02 A New Hope’s writer-director was a then-32-year-old American Graffiti veteran who’d struggled to get the project greenlit and famously took back-end profit and merchandising rights in lieu of a higher salary — the deal that would build a billion-dollar company. He returned to direct the prequels but stepped away from the original-trilogy sequels. Name him. ASteven Spielberg BGeorge Lucas CFrancis Ford Coppola DIrvin Kershner ✓ Correct! George Lucas. The merchandising rights he kept (because Fox didn’t value them) became the financial bedrock of Lucasfilm and the basis of the modern toys-and-licensing megabusiness. After A New Hope, Lucas produced but didn’t direct Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner) or Return of the Jedi (Richard Marquand), then directed all three prequels (1999–2005). He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 and stepped away from creative control of the sequels. ✗ Wrong. The answer is George Lucas. Steven Spielberg was Lucas’s close friend (and the godfather of his post-A-New-Hope career) but never directed a Star Wars film. Coppola was Lucas’s mentor at USC and at American Zoetrope. Irvin Kershner directed Empire Strikes Back. The original is Lucas’s. NEXT → 03 In 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader delivers cinema’s most-misquoted line at the climax of his Cloud City duel with Luke Skywalker. Vader severs Luke’s hand and reveals their relationship. The exact line is — for the record — “No, I am your father.” What relationship does it confirm? AVader is Luke’s uncle BVader is Luke’s father (Anakin Skywalker) CVader is Obi-Wan’s brother DVader is Han’s father ✓ Correct! Vader is Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father. The reveal was so jealously guarded that Mark Hamill was only told the real line on set the day they shot it (the script said “Obi-Wan killed your father”), and even James Earl Jones recorded the dub without knowing the full plot context. The line — commonly misquoted as “Luke, I am your father” — rewrote what trilogies could pull off and is broadly considered cinema’s most famous twist. ✗ Wrong. The answer is that Vader is Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker. The whole foundation of the Skywalker saga collapses to this single twist: Anakin (the Jedi prodigy of the prequels) becomes Vader after his fall. Luke and Leia are revealed in Return of the Jedi to be his twin children, separated at birth. NEXT → 04 Yoda — the green, ear-twitching Jedi Master — was puppeted and voiced from his Empire Strikes Back debut through the prequels and the sequels by a single Muppet-show-veteran performer who also voices Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. Name him. AJim Henson BFrank Oz CSteve Whitmire DBrian Henson ✓ Correct! Frank Oz — longtime Jim Henson collaborator and voice/puppet work on Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle and Grover. Oz puppeted Yoda directly through The Phantom Menace before CGI took over for Attack of the Clones onward, but he’s continued to voice the character through the sequels and animated series. Yoda’s syntax was developed jointly by Lucas and Oz to feel old, foreign and hard-won. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Frank Oz. Jim Henson was Oz’s mentor and collaborator (he created the Muppets) but didn’t voice Yoda. Steve Whitmire took over Kermit after Henson’s 1990 death. Brian Henson is Jim’s son and runs the Henson company today. Yoda is Frank Oz’s. NEXT → 05 In a deal that reshaped Hollywood, Disney acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in cash and stock — bringing Star Wars, Indiana Jones, ILM and Skywalker Sound under the Disney umbrella. The deal also kicked off the sequel trilogy production. In what year did Disney close the acquisition? A2009 B2010 C2012 D2014 ✓ Correct! 2012 — specifically October 30. The deal was announced with simultaneous reveal that a Star Wars Episode VII was being developed for a 2015 release. Lucas had been quietly preparing his exit from Lucasfilm for years; Kathleen Kennedy had been brought in as co-chair months earlier specifically to take over. The Force Awakens came out three years later, in December 2015, kicking off the modern era. ✗ Wrong. The answer is 2012. 2009 is when Disney acquired Marvel ($4 billion). 2010 is the year before Lucas began signalling exit plans. 2014 is when production proper began on The Force Awakens. Lucasfilm joined Disney on October 30, 2012. NEXT → 06 The Mandalorian launched as Disney+’s flagship original on November 12, 2019 — the day the streaming service itself launched. Created by Jon Favreau and run by Dave Filoni, the show centres on a helmeted bounty hunter who reluctantly becomes a foster father to “The Child” (Grogu). What is the Mandalorian’s real name? ABoba Fett BCobb Vanth CDin Djarin DBo-Katan Kryze ✓ Correct! Din Djarin — played by Pedro Pascal under the helmet (with body double Brendan Wayne handling much of the physical work). The Mandalorian is widely credited with reviving Star Wars on TV, popularising the StageCraft LED-volume virtual production technology now used across Hollywood, and turning baby Yoda — Grogu — into the meme-economy phenomenon of late 2019. Three seasons have aired with a feature film, The Mandalorian & Grogu, set for May 2026. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Din Djarin. Boba Fett is the famous bounty hunter from the original trilogy, with his own Disney+ spinoff (The Book of Boba Fett, 2021). Cobb Vanth is the Tatooine marshal played by Timothy Olyphant. Bo-Katan Kryze is the Mandalorian princess played by Katee Sackhoff. The Mandalorian himself is Din Djarin. NEXT → 07 Order 66 — the secret directive that turns the Republic’s clone troopers against their Jedi commanders and effectively ends the Jedi Order — is dramatised in the climactic third act of which prequel film? AEpisode I: The Phantom Menace BEpisode II: Attack of the Clones CEpisode III: Revenge of the Sith DRogue One ✓ Correct! Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). Palpatine’s “Execute Order 66” comm to the clone armies leads to the methodical, planet-by-planet liquidation of the Jedi Order — one of the saga’s most operatic sequences, scored to John Williams’ “Anakin’s Betrayal” cue. The same film features Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side, the Mustafar duel with Obi-Wan, and his rebirth as Darth Vader in the suit. Widely re-evaluated as the best of the prequels. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Revenge of the Sith. Phantom Menace ends with Qui-Gon’s death and the unveiling of Darth Maul. Attack of the Clones ends with the Clone Wars beginning. Rogue One is set just before A New Hope, after Order 66 has long since happened. The Order 66 sequence is the climax of Episode III. NEXT → 08 Andor (2022–25) is widely regarded as the most adult, politically literate Star Wars project ever made — a slow-burn prequel to Rogue One charting Cassian Andor’s radicalisation against the Empire. The series was created and showrun by a writer/director best known for the original Bourne trilogy and Michael Clayton. Name him. ATony Gilroy BRian Johnson CJon Favreau DDave Filoni ✓ Correct! Tony Gilroy. He’d previously been brought in for extensive Rogue One reshoots in 2016, and Lucasfilm gave him near-total creative independence on Andor. Season 1 (12 episodes, 2022) is widely regarded as Star Wars’ finest dramatic writing ever; Season 2 (also 12 episodes, in four three-episode jumps across 2025) closes the gap to Rogue One’s opening scene. Gilroy’s prior credits: Bourne Identity / Supremacy / Ultimatum / Legacy, plus directing Michael Clayton (2007). ✗ Wrong. The answer is Tony Gilroy. Rian Johnson directed The Last Jedi (2017). Jon Favreau created The Mandalorian and is Lucasfilm’s Disney+-era animation/live-action lieutenant. Dave Filoni runs the Filoniverse (Clone Wars, Rebels, Ahsoka, the upcoming Heir to the Empire film). Andor is Tony Gilroy’s. REVEAL MY RATING → The Force Has Spoken · Final Tally Your Galactic Standing 🗡️ / 8 Jedi Master — or moisture farmer on Tatooine? ⤴ ANOTHER GO Kylo Ren wearing a Mandalorian mask, Rey wielding a double-bladed blue lightsaber, Luke's Force ghost haunting Kylo Ren, Finn leading a full stormtrooper uprising as the Resistance uses old Imperial hardware to lay siege to Coruscant, the Mortis Blade. So many great ideas that were unfortunately left on the table when Lucasfilm chose to massively pivot after The Last Jedi. Perhaps one day, an official non-canon Duel of the Fates comic or novel will be in the works.​​​​​​​ Star Wars Infinities Not unlike Marvel Comics' alternate timelines with their What If...? stories, Star Wars once had Infinities from Dark Horse Comics, providing major reimaginings of each episode of the Original Trilogy. What if Luke failed to destroy the Death Star? What if Darth Vader survived and fought alongside Luke and Leia wearing white armor? What if Leia became Yoda's Jedi apprentice instead of Luke? These exciting questions created wildly entertaining alternate realities on the page, and an animated non-canon series in the same vein could be fascinating for the franchise, just like Marvel Studios' "What If...?" animated series, which ran for three seasons. What if Anakin beat Obi-Wan on Mustafar? What if Qui-Gon lived and joined Dooku? What if Jar Jar didn't give Palpatine emergency powers? So many fun possibilities Lucasfilm could take advantage of with its own "What If...?" series. Seth Green's Star Wars Detours No Star Wars project is more frustratingly complete (yet unreleased) than Star Wars Detours. Before Disney acquired Lucasfilm back in 2012, Seth Green and the creative team behind Robot Chicken produced 39 episodes of the animated comedy series, a unique parody of the Star Wars galaxy set between the prequel and original trilogies. Trailers for Detours were even released, featuring some truly hilarious moments, like Darth Vader awkwardly trying to recruit the youths: "Yo dudes, the Empire is pretty cool. You should like, join it or something..." Even after all these years collecting dust, I have to believe that simply releasing the already completed episodes on Disney+ would be a pretty significant streaming hit for the Star Wars franchise. Tag & Bink A deeper cut here, but I love it, and I'm including it anyway (you can't stop me). Another great non-canon comedy option, it would be amazing if Lucasfilm one day adapted the non-canon misadventures of Tag Greenley and Bink Otauna. Created by Dark Horse Comics, the few issues of Tag & Bink saw the pair stumbling through the events of Episodes I-VI while accidentally influencing major galactic events, essentially being the Star Wars galaxy's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Interestingly, Tag and Bink were almost featured on-screen and are technically still canon. Versions of the characters were filmed as low-level Imperial officers for 2017's Solo: A Star Wars Story, as seen in behind-the-scenes images. However, the scene ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor (we were so close). Death Troopers Horror should absolutely be considered for non-canon Star Wars projects as well, with one of the very best Legends novels of all time being Star Wars: Death Troopers. Imagine an animated horror series like Marvel Zombies set aboard a derelict Imperial Star Destroyer. Before they became an official trooper variant thanks to Rogue One, Death Troopers were literal zombies in Legends, the result of a mysterious virus transforming the entire cruiser's Imperial personnel into flesh-hungry monsters, trapping survivors aboard the massive vessel as they desperately tried to escape (including Han Solo and Chewbacca). Even better, the official Star Wars canon has already introduced zombie-like undead with Thrawn's Night Troopers in 2023's Ahsoka, reanimated soldiers brought back to life via the Nightsisters' Great Mothers with their magicks. The series even had Death Troopers who became "Death Troopers." Just picture an animated non-canon Star Wars project that saw a wave of undead overtaking the entire galaxy. It'd be crazy. All eight episodes of Star Wars: Visions Presents — The Ninth Jedi are set to premiere August 5th on Disney+ and Hulu. Release Date September 22, 2021 Network Disney+ Franchise(s) Star Wars Cast Michael Sinterniklaas Tuskan Raider This animated anthology series features short films from Japanese creators, offering unique and diverse interpretations of the Star Wars universe. Each episode presents a distinct narrative style, exploring new characters and themes while celebrating the iconic elements of the franchise in a novel format. Main Genre Animation Executive Producer(s) Anthony Silverston, Antonia Herrera, Arthell Isom, Athena Yvette Portillo, James Waugh, Josh Rimes, Koji Yamamoto, Jacqui Lopez, Eunyoung Choi, Erika Forzy Producers Choi Go Un, Danny Gallagher, Katja Schumann, Priyank Raj, Will Feng, Kohei Sakita, Masahiro Kannae, Kana Manabe, Hitoshi Ito Seasons 3 Story By George Lucas Streaming Service(s) Disney+