The latter half of 2020 is really shaping up to be a strong one for the LEGO Star Wars theme – a sell-out Summer Wave, brick-or-treat costumes, a Thanksgiving special, and (had it not been pushed back) a brand new video game.
Now, with three weeks to go, the push to promote the upcoming LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special – which streams on November 17th – is ramping up and Entertainment Weekly has the inside scoop on some of the plot twists.
“The Holiday Special has something you will never see in Star Wars otherwise which is all the characters from across all timelines crashing together,” executive producer James Waugh told Entertainment Weekly. “Normally story groups are so concerned about maintaining this amazing galaxy so that it feels cohesive, it was liberating to do this in a way that’s charming and fun.”
Non-canonical moments in the Holiday Special, which follows on directly from the events of The Rise of Skywalker, include meeting Obi-Wan Kenobi from three different sections of the Star Wars timeline (presumably Republic, Clone Wars and Galactic Empire) and duelling with Darth Vader.
One of the main creative mechanisms in writing the Holiday Special, explains Waugh, was watching how kids interact with LEGO Star Wars toys – with no inhibition about mixing and matching characters or scenarios, children simply play, and the Holiday Special is a reminder of that.
As a sequel to the original Holiday Special, first broadcast in 1978, it’s also meant to be a redemption to the camp humorof the 20th Century Fox/Nelvana co-production.
Looking back, it’s clear that there have been some wrong turns in the Star Wars franchise – with the original Star Wars Holiday Special being one of the biggest. With a long list of “we-wish-we-could-go-back-and-change- that” mistakes coming from the Lucasfilm licensing department, there’s been one trope that Star Wars has shied away from – time travel.
That is, until now, because during her journey to a lost Jedi temple Rey encounters a quantum rift, causing her to time leap from one end of the Skywalker Saga to the other.
At least LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special falls into that canon-adjacent category – so hopefully we’ll never officially see a tricked-out Sorosub XP-38 landspeeder (because, if you’re going to build a time machine into a landspeeder, why not do it with some style?) in a Star Wars movie.
If you could time travel in the Star Wars galaxy what change would you make? Tie Jar-Jar’s shoelaces together so he can’t get to the Senate meeting to propose giving emergency powers to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine? Shout “fire!” at the Star Destroyer gunners in A New Hope? Put a trampoline at the bottom of the Death Star II’s reactor shaft?
Personally, I’d like to witness the signing of the Lucasfilm/LEGO license. Share your thoughts and comments below.
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