It says something about the state of the Star Wars franchise that headlines claiming Lucasfilm was 'erasing' the unpopular sequel trilogy took the internet by force this week. Spoiler alert: it isn't actually happening. But the reaction is perhaps more important than the news itself.
The reports stem from a new Star Wars: Visions project, which exists outside the main canon rather than replacing it. But the fact that so many people actually believed Disney might quietly sweep Episodes VII, VIII and IX under the rug speaks volumes.
Star Wars has spent the best part of a decade looking like it's trying to untangle its own mess. The sequel trilogy divided audiences, then the Disney+ streaming era brought a conveyor belt of sequels and spin-offs. Right now, the force is so weak with Star Wars that people actually welcomed the news that three mainline film entries might be going the way of Alderaan.
Despite that reference, I'm not a big Star Wars fan. I am, however a huge James Bond fan. And after since 007 was purchased by Amazon, I've been watching the erosion of the Star Wars franchise with increasing concern.
If there's one thing Bond doesn't need, it's content overload. The franchise has always thrived on a certain level of restraint. Bond films arrive every few years, with the plot, the cast, the song and more combining to make each instalment an event.
There are signs that Amazon has the right idea for the next film. Denis Villeneuve directing and Steven Knight writing is about as exciting a combination as I could have hoped for. But the streamer has also shown us it's willing to pump out franchise-adjacent garbage in the form of reality show 007: Road to a Million.
So it's what comes after the film that worries me. Does Bond really need an origin story for M? A Young Q adventure? A spin-off about the Double-O programme? I don't think many Bond fans have spent decades wishing for any of those things. Yet they're exactly the kind of projects that feel inevitable once a franchise becomes a content machine.
With Star Wars, Disney has shown exactly how it shouldn't be done. The problem isn't a few bad films, it's an endlessly, exhaustingly expanding universe. The more that gets churned out, the less sacred it feels, to the point that Disney erasing movies sounds believable.
Sure, there are Bond films that I think are objectively terrible. A View to a Kill and Die Another Day spring to mind. But no matter how egregious the missteps—and the ending of No Time to Die was perhaps the most egregious of all—I wouldn't want to see them erased. Disney might have made Star Wars films feel disposable, but I hope Bond never goes the same way.
