Over the course of more than four decades,Star Warsfans have been enjoyingthe Skywalker saga. This story, playing out over the course of various live-action films and television shows, has told a tale of love, betrayal, and redemption. While the tale has had its ups and downs over the years, mostStar Warsfans acknowledge that the series wouldn’t be what it is without the Skywalker family.
But after such a long time focusing on the adventures of a single lineage of Jedi, some fans have wondered when the series is going to move on to something new. It’s easy to return tofamiliar characters and stories, but honing in on a single line of people in a galaxy as varied as the one inStar Warscan make it feel like some serious opportunities are being missed on the big screen.
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Who Are The Skywalkers?
The Skywalker family line comes from humble beginnings, but would quickly become one of the most legendary and feared groups across the galaxy. When most people utter the name Skywalker, it’s to speak of one of many powerful Jedi or Force-Sensitive beings that had a massive impact on the widerStar Warsuniverse. These powerful people shaped an entire galaxy, managing to fall on both the Dark and the Light Sides of the Force. Due to the belief that a child of prophecy exists among the Skywalkers andthe massive Midi-Chlorian countin the family line, Skywalkers tend to be devastatingly strong in the Force.
While it’s possible that the Skywalker line did exist before Shmi Skywalker, she is the first known member of the family in the current continuity. The mother of Anakin Skywalker was a young girl who was a slave for most of her life, eventually ending up on the fan-favorite planet of Tatooine. In a strange occurrence, Shmi would end up giving birth to Anakin Skywalker, despite there never being a father in the picture. The mysterious nature of this birth is the very thing that makes Anakin Skywalker a child of prophecy,the Chosen Onewho was said to bring balance to the Force.
InThe Phantom Menace, Anakin would meet the twoJedi Qui-Gon Jinnand Obi-Wan Kenobi, and they would discover that the boy’s Midi-Chlorian count was off the charts. This leads Qui-Gon to believe that Anakin is the chosen one, and eventually leads to Obi-Wan’s training of the young boy after Qui-Gon’s death. Anakin would quickly solidify himself as a powerful Jedi, though an incredibly brash and arrogant one. InAttack Of The Clones, he would fall in love with and marry Padme Amidala, though this would be the beginning of the downfall of the Skywalker family.
Being powerful and easy to manipulate, Anakin would end up turning to the Dark Side of the Force inRevenge Of The Sith, becomingthe villainous Darth Vader. His wife Padme would die right after giving birth to their two children, Luke and Leia Skywalker. With Anakin firmly aligned with the dark forces of the galaxy, his children were hidden away until they could one day fight back against their father’s tyranny. Luckily, both Luke and Leia were incredibly powerful in the Force, just as their father was before them.
After reuniting and assisting a rebellion, Luke and Leia would manage to save the galaxy.Luke defeated his own fatherand returned the dark Jedi to the side of light. Anakin would die, but Luke would live on to become a powerful Jedi master who would attempt to restore the Jedi Order to its former glory. At some point during the new era of peace, Leia and Han Solo had a child, Ben Solo (AKA Kylo Ren), another extension to the Skywalker lineage. Unfortunately, he would follow in his grandfather’s footsteps byturning to the dark side and pushing the galaxy back into darkness.
Luke and Leia would both eventually dieduring the fight against Kylo Ren’s forces, but a young nobody named Rey (later revealed to be a member of the Palpatine family) would continue the Skywalkers’ virtuous ways. She would eventually succeed in bringing Kylo back to the light as Ben Solo, but he too would die. Despite not being a Skywalker by blood, Rey would take up the family name inThe Rise of Skywalkerin order to continue their legacy. To this point, she is the last living Skywalker even if she is not truly of the bloodline.
Why Was There So Much Focus On The Skywalkers?
The franchise’s heavy focus on the Skywalkers comes down toLuke Skywalker being the initial focusof theStar Warsstory. When the movies first came out, they were such a phenomenon and created such a dedicated fanbase, that it only made sense to continue the story in some form. Rather than making a sequel to Luke’s adventures after the defeat of his father and the Sith, the creative team behind the property decided a prequel would be best. This allowedStar Warsfans to experience the life of Anakin Skywalker before he would become the most terrifying villain to grace the galaxy.
In the sequel trilogy, the Skywalker name wasn’t a major focus, at least initially. While there does seem to have been some widely known turmoil involved in the creation of that trilogy, the focus did eventually fall back onto the importance of the Skywalkers and their place in the galaxy. It’s a recognizable and iconic name, and one that some people feel will always need to be included in theStar Warsuniverse.
Is There Anything Left To Do With The Skywalkers?
At this point, all characters who are Skywalkers by blood have been killed.Rey only uses the nameout of respect for greatness and as a way to reject her lineage of evil. It’s possible for theStar Warsstory to continue the Skywalker saga. However, it might be time to move on to a new story surrounding a new group of characters with entirely new struggles.
Star Warsfans have watched the origins of this family. They’ve seen a great warrior fall to evil, return to the lightthanks to his children, and then see the same thing more or less occur again generations later. While that may be a safe story to tell, some fans feel it may get stale if the same pattern were to repeat. Focusing on a new character separate from the Skywalkers would allow the series to tell fresh stories and distance itself from the baggage of what is now generally viewed as a more negative than positive sequel trilogy.
Star Warsis available for streaming on Disney+.
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