By George & Josh Bate
The only confirmed live-action Star Wars series on the horizon is Ahsoka Season 2. The only confirmed animated Star Wars shows on the horizon are Maul – Shadow Lord Season 2 and Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi. Compared to the prolific era of Disney+ Star Wars shows between the years of 2019 and 2025, this is a relative dry spell for television in a galaxy far, far away. But a new Star Wars novel lays the perfect foundation for the next great Star Wars show.
From author Madeleine Roux, Star Wars: Legacy takes place after the Battle of Crait and follows Rey, Leia, and the rest of the Resistance as they continue rebelling against the First Order’s tyrannical rule. Feeling the pressure of being the last Jedi in the galaxy, Rey feels alone and overwhelmed, especially as her mentor Leia has limited knowledge of the Force and the Jedi. A glimmer of hope, however, emerges when Rey discovers that a long-forgotten Jedi Temple on Tython may hold the key to repairing the lightsaber. Rey and Leia make the journey to Tython, where their pursuit of a lightsaber forge intersects with two men who almost pulled off the daring assassination of a First Order major.
Throughout the novel, Leia uses R2-D2 to record “The Memoirs of General Legia Organa.” Leia narrates Chapter 9 to R2 at the beginning of the novel, detailing how Luke trained her in the ways of the Force on the planet Ajan Kloss between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.
The Memoirs of General Leia Organa sounds like it would make for a pretty amazing Star Wars show. Obviously, key parts of Leia’s story are covered in the original and sequel trilogies, but there are tons of gaps in her life not addressed in existing Star Wars stories.
Last year, Vivien Lyra Blair, who played little Leia in Obi-Wan Kenobi, expressed her interest in making a “teenage Leia” show during an interview with Collider….
“I almost feel like it could be really fun to do some sort of a teenage Leia. I’ve said it in a few interviews, and I’ve had some people be like, ‘No, don’t need it.’ Yes, we do. We need less male-centric Star Wars. We need more women because we need a strong female Star Wars Universe. I love that. So, I think it could be actually really fun. I really enjoyed how they did Skeleton Crew of almost like a Goonies/Stranger Things-esque show that was definitely for teens, but it was centered around Star Wars, and I think it could be really cool to do something like that, emulating some sort of teen show but with characters that we know, like Leia. Something almost like The Summer I Turned Pretty, XO, Kitty-esque show where it’s almost a high school romance kind of show but with Leia on the Junior Senate. I think it would be difficult to execute with proper writing, but it could be really fun to do something like that and really bring in more of that type of audience.”
Blair’s idea for a Leia show could come to fruition (and even be expanded) if Lucasfilm commissioned The Memoirs of Leia Organa. The series could be live-action and bring Blair back to play Leia during the teenage years, or it could be animated and thus subvert any issues related to recasting one of the most iconic Star Wars characters of all time.
What sort of challenges did Leia face while being raised on Alderaan? How did she come to terms with finding out that her father was Darth Vader? What exactly went into her decision to suspend training with Luke? How did she navigate her son’s turn to the dark side? All of these questions (and more) have been touched upon in existing Star Wars stories, but arguably have not been given the attention they deserve. A Princess Leia show could ameliorate that.