How Star Wars: Visions Sets the Stage For the Future of the Franchise

Star Wars: Visions is a bold experiment, mixing the style of the anime genre with the stales and themes of the Star Wars Universe. The various shorts in the first wave of Star Wars: Visions episodes have caused varying levels of debate within the fandom, but there is one point of consensus: there's at least one story in Star Wars: Visions that opens the door to an entirely new era of the franchise, set long into the future, generations after the Skywalker Saga was over. But will Lucasfilm and the makers of Star Wars actually open the doors to that new era even wider? 

The Star Wars: Visions short that has sparked some serious debate about the future of the Star Wars franchise is none other than "The Ninth Jedi". That story is set generations after The Skywalker Saga, when the memory of the Jedi Order and their ways has all but faded from the galaxy. "The Ninth Jedi" chronicles the milestone occasion where a remaining Jedi Master named Margrave Juro sends out secret summons to seven Jedi to come to his planet Hy Izlan to receive a special gift: the ancient and revered weapons known as lightsabers. 

However, evil forces of the dark side are revealed to be onto Juro's plan and set a trap: the sabersmith Lah Zhima is ambushed at his workshop and narrowly gets his daughter Kara out alive with the sabers in her possession. On Hy Izlan, Kara delivers the sabers to a young Jedi named Ethan, and his six friends, only to discover that every Jedi besides Ethan has been corrupted by the Sith! "The Ninth Jedi" lives up to its title as Margrave Juro proves he was one step ahead all along, disguised as his droid, and springs his own trap to eliminate the Sith threat while recruiting those fighting with him to rebuilding the Jedi Order. 

Star Wars: Visions' "The Ninth Jedi" deftly establishes a future of the Star Wars franchise, that fans have waited to see. Just there have been calls to explore the distant past of Star Wars in The Old Republic, fans (and their fiction) have also wanted to know what the distant future of the franchise could be like. Now we have the first sparks and embers of an idea of what that world and its story could look like - but does it count?

Is Star Wars Visions Canon? 

Lucasfilm and the makers of Star Wars: Visions have been intentionally vague about how the series connects to Star Wars canon. The first short, "The Duel" is explicitly set in an "alternate past" of the Star Wars canon - but one that has already inspired a spinoff novel about its central character. Meanwhile, other shorts are set in time periods before The Phantom Menace; the Rise of the Empire era between the Original and Prequel trilogies; a period just after the fall of the First Order in Rise of Skywalker - all settings that do not conflict with any official canon. It's a convenient way for Visions to tell its stories and not have to get snagged on the question of how official (or not) it all is. 

That means that "The Ninth Jedi" is in a real Schrödinger's cat situation, as far as Star Wars canon goes. Its potential to be a legitimate start to the official future era of Star Wars is very real - and will get realer by the day if the fans support it. As stated, Visions has already created one highly-anticipated spinoff in "The Duel" character "Ronin" - and it doesn't need to be canon to still have viable life. "The Ninth Jedi" seems as good a start as any story about the future era of Star Wars... why not build on it? 

Star Wars: Visions is now streaming on Disney+.