Ever since the prequel trilogy’s conclusion in 2005, the Star Wars franchise has lain dormant, seemingly oblivious to the pleas of its fan-base. However, this all changed when, through what is now being called “the deal of the century,” Disney acquired the legendary Star Wars franchise, along with LucasFilms, its parent company. Not long after, Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens was announced. Unfortunately, every reward has a price, and the bigger the reward, the bigger the price. In return for the new trilogy, the Star Wars franchise lost nearly 30 years of history: hundreds of books, comics, and games thrown out the window in exchange for an unsure future.

But, putting my personal feelings aside, I felt that Star Wars 7 had the potential to lead to some interesting scenarios, some of which parallel the Expanded Universe (now called the “Legends”), and others that diverge completely. Moreover, the return of the “Empire vs Rebels” atmosphere that was so iconic to the original Star Wars trilogy, and defined its major conflicts contributed towards a major nostalgia factor. Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, despite being conventionally unknown actors, both did fantastic jobs portraying the two protagonists, Rey and Finn. Disregarding from Finn’s tendency to constantly scream at everything and everyone (especially during the expository scenes), I was surprised at how quickly he and the other actors were able to develop strong character relationships, whilst simultaneously making themselves appealing to the audience. It was amusing how quickly everyone seemed to forget the heroes of old, especially since they’d (IE Luke, Leia, Hansolo, Chewbacca, just to name a few) had years to build incredibly complex and diverse character relationships, through both the original trilogy as well as the expanded universe.

As much as Disney and Lucasfilms may deny the importance of EU, it would be foolish to dismiss its importance in bringing new light to all the iconic characters of the Star Wars franchise, and making them as relatable and close to human as possible. It can’t be only me that, after reading a Star Wars book or playing a Star Wars game (shoutout to KOTOR), I can physically imagine myself in the world, in the universe of that particular storyline. In my opinion, this is the strength of the Star Wars universe; not its potential as a spectacle, but the influence that it can have on not only one’s entertainment, but one’s life. So please Disney, for the future of Star Wars, I implore you to take into consideration the re-implementation of the expanded universe. As of now, you have taken away not only a large piece of the Star Wars franchise, but the core of what made many Star Wars fans… into Star Wars fans.