By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
As an ‘80s kid, I grew up during that interesting time period between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace. It was a time when all new Star Wars content came in the form of books, comics, and video games.
This led to the creation of some awesome original characters, including two fan-favorites from writer Timothy Zahn: Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade. After Disney destroyed the past (Kylo Ren would be proud) by removing the Star Wars Expanded Universe from canon, they brought back Thrawn in a big way, but if Disney hopes to save Star Wars, they also need to bring back Mara Jade.
Who is Mara Jade, you ask? Introduced in Zahn’s Heir to the Empire, Jade is a talented woman whose intelligence and Force sensitivity led her into Imperial service as the Emperor’s Hand. Her life is thrown into chaos when the Emperor dies, and she is later forced to reluctantly work with Luke Skywalker (whom she blames for Palpatine’s death) against Thrawn and his resurgent Imperial forces.
Jade’s popularity among fans helped make her one of the most prominent Star Wars EU characters, and she went on to become Luke’s wife and mother to his child. Now, based on everything we know about Luke’s life after Return of the Jedi, it looks like the hermit-like Jedi Master had no time for love. But Disney+ could easily adapt the rest of Mara Jade’s story for future shows and films, and this kind of olive branch to older fans may be all that can save Star Wars.
As to why Star Wars needs saving, where do we start? The Sequel Trilogy was a muddled mess that left most fans unhappy, and most of the Disney+ TV shows have ranged from mildly disappointing (The Book of Boba Fett) to offensively bland (The Acolyte). Now that the solo Rey movie has lost writer Steve Knight, it seems clearer than ever that Disney doesn’t really know what it is doing with a franchise that it paid billions to secure from George Lucas.
However, making Mara Jade the center of her own solo films and TV shows could help right this sinking starship, and that’s not just my fanboy nostalgia talking. Jade is like Grand Admiral Thrawn in that she is a known quantity. The character already has legions of fans thanks to her cool backstory. It’s a reasonable bet that her story will win over new fans as well, thanks mainly to her cool connection to both Palpatine and the Force.
Additionally, re-introducing Mara Jade back to Star Wars canon would mean Disney has a strong female character, something that the franchise has recently been struggling with. Daisy Ridley’s Rey was supposed to be that hire, but her character divided audiences rather than uniting them. With production difficulties of the solo Rey film potentially putting that movie’s release in jeopardy, there is no time like the present for Star Wars to focus on a female protagonist without as much controversy or baggage.
Because Mara Jade was an Imperial spy long before she became a smuggler, it would be easy to insert her into any Star Wars time period. For example, she could easily be introduced in Andor’s final season as an Imperial agent since Palpatine recruited her as a young child. Alternatively, she could pop up in the time period of shows like The Mandalorian as someone weighing the Empire she once proudly served against the ragged remnant it has become.
Speaking of The Mandalorian, some fans think the show has already covertly introduced Jade in the form of Elia Kane (Kate M. O’Brian), someone whose name and apparent loyalty to Moff Gideon could both be cover stories. While that would require tweaking a bit of Jade’s background from the books, Disney would be lucky to have a performer as talented as O’Brian (best known for the excellent Love Lies Bleeding) play one of the most famous characters in Star Wars.
No matter who plays her or how she is introduced, Mara Jade needs to become an official part of Star Wars canon again. She’s a great character with unlimited storytelling potential, one who won over the fandom long before the prequels came out. With her on the roster, Disney might be able to do something that now seems nearly impossible: create good Star Wars content again.