Disney Refuses to Bring Back the One Character That Could Save Star Wars
By Chris Snellgrove | Published
The ’90s were an exciting time for Star Wars fans. The franchise has received a resurgence in the form of the Extended Universe of books, comics, and video games. At the time, all of this was considered canonical, which made everything very interesting. We had a new, officer The first Star Wars adventure since the credits roll Return of the Jedi back in 1983. Also, we had some new characters, some of whom became fan favorites. Two of those characters came from lead writer Timothy Zahn: Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade.
Both of those characters, along with the entire Star Wars EU, were de-canonized when Disney bought the franchise. Due to fan demand, House of Mouse finally brought Thrawn back into the franchise Rebels and, later, Ahsoka. After that, many Zahn fans realized that it was only a matter of time before Mara Jade was brought back. However, Zahn and other writers have recently confirmed that Disney continues to reject their attempts to bring the popular character back to the Star Wars franchise.
The coolest Star Wars character you’ve never heard of
Mara Jade was introduced to Timothy Zahn Heir to the Empire as a character who was once the Hand of the Emperor. As a Force-sensitive Imperial agent, he can do Palpatine’s will throughout the galaxy while maintaining mental contact with him. However, the Emperor’s death effectively ruined his career: because almost no one knew what his role was, he had no real place in the empire after Palpatine’s death. He had to build a new life for himself as a smuggler, but he is always haunted by Palpatine’s last command when he died: “YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER.”
She proved to be a very popular actress and eventually married Luke Skywalker and gave birth to his son (who was more aptly named “Ben”). After Disney bought the rights to Star Wars, however, Mara Jade and all her adventures were no longer part of the official roster. However, in time, Thrawn was brought back into the canon with his appearance Rebels again Ahsoka. In addition, Disney commissioned Timothy Zahn to write new, official novels about Thrawn, who may be the most popular Star Wars villain since Darth Vader.
If Grand Admiral Thrawn Can Return, Why Not Mara Jade?
Understandably, Zahn tried to get Disney to bring Jade back into the books in any capacity. In 2024, he told the Dragon Con audience that he’s the number one character he’d like to bring back to Star Wars in almost any capacity. “I keep waving to Lucasfilm, asking them if I can write a book,” he said. “The answers come back somewhere between ‘no’ and ‘heck no.'”
The issue came up again at MegaCon this year. Prolific Star Wars author Claudia Gray told the audience that she has repeatedly put Mara Jade in her books. “A couple of times I was like, ‘Really, there’s no Mara Jade?’ And they were like, ‘No,'” he said, emphasizing the last word. As it turned out, Zahn was on the same team and chimed in: “I asked them too,” he said, before revealing that his request was similarly rejected.
It’s time for Live-Action Mara Jade
It’s possible that Disney is reluctant to introduce Mara Jade into canon because so much of her story doesn’t work after the Star Wars sequels. We haven’t seen anything like the Emperor’s Hand in any of the subsequent movies, and the Inquisitors seem to fill the role of “Forcibly Linked Imperials without a normal chain of command.” Also, his post-Imperial life was spent building a career with Talon Karrde, a smuggler chief and no longer part of the canon. In the end, the whole idea of her marrying Luke Skywalker is off the table, due to Mark Hamill’s age and the fact that Luke had no time for love after being a lonely recluse.
However, modern Star Wars writers have done a solid job of bringing Grand Admiral Thrawn back and gently fitting him into the existing canon. It seems like it would be easy enough to do that to Mara Jade, especially since her creator is doing everything he can to help. However, it seems that the powers that be have decided that this fan favorite character will never grace the screen or even the page, again. Which is unfortunate, because bringing him back in his own show or movie would be the perfect way to appeal to Expanded Universe fans who felt (ahem) “disappointed” in Disney’s Star Wars era.
