So why hasn’t Disney already done this? Well, one issue could be the franchise’s current commitment to building out The High Republic, the prequel to the prequels meant to evoke some of the same things that Knights of the Old Republic did in 2003, and with much the same approach: classic Star Wars that also feels just alien enough, with a whole new cast of characters and a version of the galaxy far, far away that feels very different to the one featured in the movies. With a live-action Disney+ series set in the High Republic era as well as new books and comics still on the way, Lucasfilm might not want to make the timeline more confusing by adding the prequel to the prequel to the prequels. While the Legends continuity did have its own chronological timeline with clear dates for each story, things could get a bit unruly when you looked at the millennia-worth of Star Wars history it contained. So far, Disney’s Lucasfilm Story Group has kept the lore pretty tidy in an attempt to make the timeline feel like one grand story. It’s much easier to rein in 300 years than 5,000 years worth of fictional galactic events.
The High Republic does also present one big storytelling problem for Knights of the Old Republic. The new books establish that many parts of the galaxy, such as the Outer Rim, are yet to be settled by the Republic, and galactic hyperspace lanes are yet to be discovered and charted. Meanwhile, Knights of the Old Republic features a Republic that has spread to most territories, even as it loses its grip to the Sith Empire. But this isn’t necessarily a deal breaker for KotOR and could be simply explained away by the passage of time. Four thousand years separate these two eras, a gap within which knowledge and history could have been forgotten from one generation to the next, just as most of the characters in KotOR knew nothing about the advanced technology the Rakatan Empire had built 30,000 years before the events of the game. And thousands of years of war undoubtedly continued to reshape the Republic, which would explain why The High Republic embraces the pioneer spirit of Jedi explorers in the Outer Rim.
Grand Admiral Thrawn remains the best example of how to re-canonize popular Star Wars lore. Disney re-introduced Thrawn in Rebels, which is set several years before the Original Trilogy, basically plugging him into an era on the timeline where his story had never been explored, and using these new stories to slowly seed a new version of his classic one. As I write this, Thrawn’s already been mentioned in The Mandalorian and seems poised to become the big bad of the Ahsoka live-action series, potentially setting up a Disney+ reimagining of Heir to the Empire.
If Disney can pull off something like this with Thrawn, Knights of the Old Republic should be a walk in the park. After all, Heir to the Empire would have to be reshaped to make sense with all of the new live-action series, but Knights of the Old Republic has its very own era to play in. And with Lucasfilm rumored to be interested in making a movie about the origin of the Jedi — first with the Game of Thrones creators and now allegedly with Taika Waititi — this could be the right time to push the timeline back further in preparation for even bigger time jump (Legends’ Dawn of the Jedi story takes place 25,000 years before the Original Trilogy and Disney could follow suit.)
Whether Knights of the Old Republic becomes canon again or not isn’t the most important thing about Aspyr’s remake, though. A story’s canon status doesn’t automatically make it a good story or a bad one. It doesn’t make one story more worth your time than another. A good Star Wars story is a good Star Wars story, which is why you shouldn’t dismiss the Legends continuity altogether. There are some real gems there, and for many fans growing up in the early 2000s, Knights of the Old Republic still shines brightest of all.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake is coming to PlayStation 5 and PC. No release date has been set. While you wait, check out the complete schedule of upcoming Star Wars movies and TV series here.
Source: Den of Geek
