Darth Revan has finally made a return to Star Wars, but it only highlights that there’s still so much more to do with the character. Revan is one of the saga’s most storied characters, a Jedi who fought in the Mandalorian Wars, fell to the dark side, became a hugely powerful Sith Lord, and found his way back. Of course, that all plays out in the video game Knights of the Old Republic and its many tie-ins, which were removed from canon and became Legends in 2014, as Disney sought to clean up what was officially part of the lore and what wasn’t. Nonetheless, KotOR, and Revan in particular, remain massively popular and influential.
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The character of Revan is technically canon, but in name only. He was referenced in The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary, with one of Emperor Palpatine’s Sith Legions named after him; he was also mentioned in the book Shadow of the Sith. That had been it for him, but Star Wars has now brought Darth Revan back in LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy: Pieces of the Past. Although it’s a non-canon show, it’s certainly a fun one, and largely does a great job at combining the play aspect of LEGO with the ability to put unique spins on classic characters (Darth Jar Jar, Jedi Vader, The Landolorian!), all with a lot of heart, sweetness, silliness, and clear reverence for the saga.
Darth Revan’s Comeback Is Disappointing
Despite how enjoyable Pieces of the Past is overall, its use of Revan is a bit of a letdown. That’s not to say I was expecting him to be the main character or have some kind of grand arc, but he just doesn’t get to do all that much. There’s a lot more entertainment value with its other returning Sith Lords, Jedi, and other characters like a giant Chewbacca. Revan, who fights alongside a dark side Obi-Wan Kenobi (who is a little more fun to watch), gets a brief battle scene, and that’s about it.
The character had been heavily featured in the marketing for the series, and getting to see him in a TV show – any TV show – is a big deal given his importance to the franchise, so there had been a lot of hype surrounding his return, which probably outweighed the reality of this being a Rebuilld the Galaxy series. And so, yes, while it turns me into a man in his mid-30s complaining about an animated LEGO show and there’s an inherent absurdity to that, it’s also just a reminder that there is so much more that Star Wars could be doing, not only with Revan, but Knights of the Old Republic as a whole.
Could Revan’s Full KotOR Story Be Made Canon? Should It?
Revan has one of the most enjoyable and complex arcs in Star Wars, and that’s true regardless of its canonicity, but it nonetheless feels like a shame to have such a rich character – and, beyond him, such a detailed setting, with so many great stories and concepts – not be fully enshrined in “official” lore. That would make it so much easier to use him, and other KotOR characters, and allow for there to be expanded roles, so that we could get the true Revan experience once again.
Of course, the problem with that is, if Lucasfilm were to look at starting from scratch, it’s a rather daunting task. The Knights of the Old Republic storytelling is vast. At one point, there was talk of a KotOR movie being in development, though it ultimately didn’t come to fruition. But this isn’t something that could be covered in just one film, it’d need a trilogy, if not a TV series, and spinoffs. You have to bring in the Mandalorian Wars, Darth Malak, Bastila Shan, and countless other things. It’s hours upon hours of storytelling that would need a clear focus, and even then, would be extremely difficult to do better than the original.
But then, that could lead to a far simpler solution: why doesn’t Lucasfilm just… y’know, make KotOR canon? Does it all fit perfectly? No, but it doesn’t need to. These are events that took place 4,000 years before the Skywalker saga; they can be thought of as in-universe legends, which can explain away any discrepancies. For most things, it’s possible to make it work. Sure, Star Wars Rebels‘ use of Malachor could complicate it, since that’s a major plot point, but there were several Malachors in Legends, so just have them be different ones.
Star Wars canon has barely scratched the surface of this time period, and that means it’s just sitting on and wasting some of its best characters, locations, and concepts. Like with much of the old Expanded Universe, there has been a tendency to dip in, take different parts, and retrofit them to suit its needs – such as Andor referencing the Rakata – but there’s plenty of open space for most of it to fit.
The mooted Knights of the Old Republic remake would’ve been a great way to do this, and still could. It’s been in development for several years, and it remains to be seen if and when it’ll actually arrive, but that would be the perfect chance for KotOR to become canon again, and use that as a springboard for more stories across different media to explore characters like Revan.
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy: Pieces of the Past is now streaming on Disney+.
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