Mara Jade - Will She Be Canon?

If the EU was being rebooted they would have picked a point in the EU timeline and said everything after this point is erased and we will be writing a different story for the EU going forward. Instead, they have relegated the entire EU to 'Legends' status, declared a new canon policy wherein anything contradicted by a now declared canon work is relegated to an 'Alternate Reality'. Their term not mine. 'Alternate Reality' is synonymous with 'Parrallel Universe'. They have also repeatedly said that there will NOT be anymore additions to the EU timeline. Also, as far as the post ROTJ timeline is concerned, the EU IS and has been the franchise for the last 25yrs. So, yes, the franchise is being rebooted. If the EU is an alternate reality/parrallel universe to the new timeline then the new timeline is an alternate reality/parallel universe to the EU.

The Star Trek reboot is different because they went far enough back in the timeline to undo everything that had been seen before. Star Wars, on the other hand, has decided to start at the end of ROTJ leaving everything that's been seen intact. Star Wars is also not having a 'watershed' event causing an alternate reality like Star Trek did but they also don't need it. The casual fan hasn't seen anything beyond ROTJ while the hardcore fans have repeatedly been told that the EU isn't regarded as canon. However, by officially making the EU an alternate reality, they are actually declaring it 'canon' in the alternate reality/parallel universe it takes place in.

I also think you vastly underestimate how widely known Mara Jade is even among casual fans. It's not like the casual fans and the hardcore fans live in separate bubbles where never the two shall meet. I also don't think the casual fans would care if a fan favorite character that they may not know is included into the new movies. There are going to be alot of characters they don't know so it won't matter if one of them is a character some of us do know.

I am new to this but I'm also a very good researcher. I have read articles, looked into rumors and studied interviews regarding the movies and new canon policy (far too many to cite specific items). I have gone through the StarWars.com archives going back to January of 2014. In early 2014 there were several articles concerning rumors that Mara Jade would be appearing in both the ST and Rebels. Many cited inside sources that confirmed there was 'some' truth to those rumors. There were several other rumors too most of which have been debunked but the Mara Jade rumor has never been debunked or confirmed (if it had we wouldn't be having this discussion).

There was also many articles on whether the Big Three had kids. Most of them qouted someone from Lucasfilm/Disney or someone working on the movies who all said pretty much the same thing. If Luke has a child, there WILL be a living mother for that child. It's only logical to assume the 'mother' would also be his wife. Obviously nothing has been confirmed but, given how much it has been repeated, It's likely he will.

Of course, with the new movies coming out, there was also plenty of discusions about the fate of the EU. At least until the big announcement in April 2014. That announcement did what I believe Lucasfilm/Disney/Abrams wanted it to do; disrupt the rumor mill. It worked too. Star Wars fan's attention turned away from the movie (which was still over a year and a half away at the time) and toward getting more information about the new canon policy and what the announcement truly does to the EU and what, if anything, will be brought into the new timeline.

What most people failed to notice is that every statement from every interview was more or less the same carefully crafted response regardless of who was saying it. That means it was a well executed media campaign to make us all think we were getting some inside knowledge about the movie and new timeline when, in fact, the opposite is true. The goal has always been to avoid giving anything away about the movie and, so far, they haven't at least with regards to the Big Three.

The fact is we know absolutely nothing about the Big Three in this timeline and that's exactly how they want it to preserve the surprise and build excitement so they can have a big premier. They wiped the EU to create that mystery and get us all talking about it. Then they throw in vague and ambiguous comments like 'We are looking to reboot or adapt EU characters into the new canon' or 'We evaluated all of the EU works for possible inclusion into the new canon' and we jump on them and speculated (and argued) endlessly about them. The 1st coment making us believe our favorites may make it in at least at some time down the line while the 2nd comment made everyone believe the entire EU failed muster because it wasn't followed up with a single work being declared canon.

The truth is those statements tell us nothing. The fact is it's all already been decided a long time ago probably before they made the big announcement in April 2014. They're just not going to let us in on it until the movie comes out. That's why we've been given no details and there is no interviews discussing a particular work or character detailing why it/they were rejected for canonization. Mark my words, none of us likely have a very good handle on what is really going to happen and we are all going to be surprised. Thinking you've got it all figured out at this point is the very definition of counting your chickens before they hatch.

With the EU erased, there is no baggage to deal with and they have total control of both the old and new characters.

 

First of all, you haven't fully grasped the extent of the EU wipe; it wasn't just post-RotJ EU that got erased, it was everything, including the Classic and Prequel eras. If it wasn't the 6 movies or TCW, it didn't happen; obviously they've added to it since then, but those were the only things carried over into the new canon.

Actually, they have said that they might be willing to revisit Legends at a later date. Forgot about that, didn't you? They've also never used the terms "Alternate Reality" or "Parallel Universe." They've said "myths" and "legends." And you're obviously not going to give on the idea that the EU wasn't the franchise that Disney bought; yes, to the hardcore fans it was the continuation of the story, but to the casual viewer (who, again, these new movies are being made for), it was always only the movies that counted.

That makes no sense; we've established that this isn't the kind of reboot that Star Trek got, which would be an alternate universe situation. I think you're getting lost in your own rhetoric here.

A "very good researcher" would be able to quote articles. And you've been reading all of this on StarWars.com? That's your problem. That may be the "official site", but it runs all sorts of articles about anything and everything it thinks can get clicks. Of course they're going to lead you on about EU hints and such, because that's the type of fan they're pandering to. As far as debunking a rumor, I again invite you to check out the cast list for TFA and tell me who you think would be playing Mara, or to check out the rumored plot details and tell me where you think she would fit into that story. I'll guarantee you that there's no room for here; there's barely room for Luke, and he's much more important to the franchise than Mara.

Let's just drop this, shall we? You've obviously entrenched in your ideas, and no amount of sense will dissuade you; that's fine, it's your prerogative. We can revisit the topic in four months when TFA is released.

 

Here's one interview from her about being Mara. I would like to underline the "I've been told that Mara was never meant to be on film"

http://starwarsinterviews1.blogspot.pt/2010/01/shannon-mcrandle-interview.html

About the questions on this topic, two thoughts:

There's being questions about what part of the SE EU is valid, the reference to Trawn Trilogy for example, but for what i understod the only cannon things are the Star Wars Movies, OT and PT, and the Star Wars clone Wars, all the other things we like never existed, like Mara Jade never was.

I Think Luke needed some kind of woman to conceive Rey, but i just don't consider Mara the one but it could be her the mother of Rey.

 

From what i understand they are DCUniversing the Star Wars, that would be an excelent starting point to bring "The Star Wars Infinity Crisis", you could even place Anakin and Luke in the same shot that way.

Now honestly, i feel your pain, the best Star Wars stories i've read were from the Expanded Universe and i'm sorry that those didn´t make to the movies nor even some great characters from those can't be placed in any movie.

If i ever had the chance to choose what star Wars movie will be next, no brainer, to me it would be The Star Wars Legacy Comics, all 50 issues were amazing, you could forget about the TVongs but Cade Skywalker and his crew with out forgeting Shado Vao, Wolf Sazen, Antares Draco and Roan Fell and the remains of The Empire.



Did I told you that i consider John Ostrander the best Star Wars Writer (hands down, no context whats so ever)

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 6, 2015, Original Post Date: Nov 6, 2015 ---

The Best Sith ever created.......................................................


DARTH TALON

 

I Never got into "The Trawn Trilogy", of course Mara and Trwan were the best characters by far, while C'Baoth and Karrde were ridiculous, but the intire Mara Jade setting and unfolding with Luke was very good. In the Novels my personal favorites were "The Rogue Squadron", long live Korran Horn, and the one where Leia escape to Kashyyk and faces the Sith Witchs and Rancors (remember a fun note from this book, it was the first time Kashyyk was introduced to us and then the Wookies could talk regular english and we knew then that Chewie had a SPEECH IMPEDIMENT)

 

What if Mara Jade (possibly renamed) is cannon but is already dead by the time of the TFA, and General Hux (Ben Skywalker) is really Luke and her son.

 

I'm hopey-feely she will be Luke's wife, Rey's mother and the female Sith or Sith apprentice of Episode 8. But I don't think she will have the same name.
But how do they do this without involving Timothy Zahn? Wouldn't they have to credit him as a writer even if they make changes to the character.

 

One of the highlights of my childhood was getting to meet Mara Jade. For some reason my little bumhump town in NC was like the Card game capital of the south. The card shop owner got her down there to do signings.

I'm doubtful they will have her in the new cannon, but I'd love to see some elements of the old EU reincorporated at direct to home video animations, kind of like how WB makes films out of their most popular graphic novels.

Lucasfilm owns all the stories and character likenesses. They don't need permission from the authors or actors to use their work.

 

I doubt that we will ever see Mara Jade, because, just like everyone else on this thread for the most part, she is gone just like the entirety of The EU . We need accept that and hopefully see some parallels to that .

 

Hey, I'm still here.
I don't post that much because lately I've been getting some serious trollage around here whenever I post.

 

Doubt it will be Mara Jade specifically, but I can see them creating a character like her in the new canon. Same goes for Thrawn and other EU characters.