When Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, the controversial decision was made to relabel Expanded Universe materials as “Star Wars Legends,” removing those materials from the official canon timeline. With the franchise starting a new era, it made sense to wipe the slate clean, but fans had grown to love many of the stories and characters present in Expanded Universe publications. In the years since, Lucasfilm has pulled from the EU, selectively bringing some Legends characters over to the new canon (Grand Admiral Thrawn perhaps being the most notable example). Of course, there are many other figures fans would love to see again, and they’ve grown frustrated with Lucasfilm’s stance on one fan favorite in particular.
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During an appearance at the Writing the Star Wars Universe panel at this year’s MegaCon (via Popverse), authors Claudia Gray and Timothy Zahn revealed their pitches to bring Mara Jade to Star Wars canon were denied. “A couple of times I was like, ‘Really? Really, no Mara Jade?’ And they were like, ‘[Stern voice] Nope,’” said Gray. With this anecdote circulating online, Star Wars fans have shared their opinions. While most are in agreement there would need to be changes from the Expanded Universe, the feeling is Mara Jade could potentially retroactively enhance certain canon stories, like Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Can Mara Jade Ever Become Part of Star Wars Canon?
Since Gray and Zahn seemingly did not go into detail about why their Mara Jade pitches were rejected, Disney’s possible reasoning was (understandably) a topic of much debate online. The optimistic fans are holding out hope that this could be a sign Lucasfilm intends to use Mara Jade in a future movie or TV show, and they want that to be the character’s first canonical appearance. By keeping Mara Jade out of published materials for the time being, Lucasfilm would have more control over Mara Jade’s on-screen role. The biggest benefit is that they wouldn’t be boxed in to a particular era on the timeline, allowing the opportunity to bring Mara Jade in wherever they saw fit.
While that makes sense, the odds of Mara Jade becoming canon are low. As some fans have pointed out, the biggest issue stems from her connection to Luke Skywalker. In Legends, Mara Jade (who previously served as part of the Emperor’s Hand and was a smuggler) marries Luke and the two have a child together. With how Luke’s story has unfolded in canon, it would be very difficult to add in something as substantial as his relationship with Mara Jade without significantly retconning previously released materials. Since Mara Jade hasn’t even been mentioned in canon to date, one has to assume all of Luke’s post-Return of the Jedi exploits took place without a loving wife by his side.
Theoretically, Lucasfilm could introduce a character named Mara Jade in canon (one who has many of the same traits and attributes as the Legends version) and just eschew her relationship with Luke. That may not sit well with fans, however, because it would be such a drastic shift from Legends. Mara Jade’s history with Luke is such an integral part of her personal journey that it would arguably defeat the point of canonizing her if that dynamic wasn’t going to be depicted. Lucasfilm would probably be better served creating a new character partially inspired by the Mara Jade archetype — one who doesn’t come with the heavy burden of baggage and expectations. It would be very disappointing if Mara Jade became canon and never met Luke.
The situation is quite different from Grand Admiral Thrawn. Canon Thrawn is not a 1:1 adaptation of Legends Thrawn, but there was still a way to organically work him into the overarching Star Wars story that stayed true to what fans loved about the old Legends materials. It’ll be harder to pull that off in the case of Mara Jade — not just because of Luke, but also the existence of the Inquisitors making the Emperor’s Hand moot. Still, that won’t stop fans from holding out hope one day Mara Jade will be in official canon. Some have speculated Amy Adams is playing a version of her in Star Wars: Starfighter.
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