The original idea for this was first discussed in my SWTOR launch guild around April 2012. Around 2006 a new bounty hunter centric game was being discussed, Star Wars: 1313, which was supposed to take place on Coruscant and might have dealt with Boba Fett apparently. In addition, a new live action TV show was being discussed along side this, Star Wars: Underworld, which was supposed to be dealing with the underworld of Coruscant which was first shown in Attack of the Clones.
The Original Idea
Because nothing ever came with the game or the TV show, I was thinking that the Star Wars: Underworld trademark could be resurrected in a new TV show that instead of dealing with just the Coruscant underworld, would instead deal with the criminal underworld that exists in the larger galaxy.
Its two or three years after the death of Jabba the Hutt. The Hutt Cartel is in some chaos as a power vacuum exists, and different Hutts are looking to take over. Jabba’s death has had the effect of smugglers, bounty hunters, privateers, gangs, and entrepreneurs looking for new opportunities where they might not have existed before. People who had been marked for death or capture by Jabba, felt like they had been freed. The Imperial remnant are driven into hiding, and the Rebel Alliance is looking to start their new government.
The show would follow a rag-tag smuggler group looking to make a name for itself in this new state of the galaxy.
- Captain ? – street-wise, cocky, but a false sense of bravado. Is hiding something about their past
- Pilot/Copilot – brash, loves flying into danger. owes the captain for something, and is working off the debt
- Engineer ? – a bit of a hot head, always making changes to the ship
- Muscle ? – the enforcer of the group is the calmest one. the captain will sometimes go to them for advice.
- Slicer ? – stereotypical eccentric computer nerd. Also is hiding something about their past.
- The Ship — some type of small cargo freighter, along the lines of the Millenium Falcon. Some other YT type freighter would be good, but do not use the YT-1300 or YT-2400 (Outrider) models.
The show would follow this group on its adventures around the galaxy, doing jobs for the Hutt Cartel, Black Sun, the Imperial remnant, and the Rebels/New Republic. Obviously working with the Imperial remnant and the Rebels would have led to some rather crazy situations. Of course, episodes could deal with normal things a smuggler group would be dealing with such as human trafficking since alien slavery was a big thing during the Imperial reign, spice addiction, the moral conundrums of dealing with Imperials and Rebels, etc…
The New Idea
So about a year and half ago, before Rogue One came out, I brought this same idea again up to my current guild mates one night after a TfB run. The general premise would remain the same, although now I was thinking a long running Netflix original series would be a better vehicle, Marvel’s Daredevil was out on Netflix at the time, and Orange is the New Black was sweeping up Emmy awards. Because the Expanded Universe had been done away with after the purchase of Lucasfilms by Disney, I thought this would be a perfect way to introduce Talon Karrde to the new canon.
So the new series would be focused on Talon Karrde and his crew, taking on jobs in this post-Imperial galaxy. However, I would not introduce Mara Jade’s character until midway through season 2, because the focus needs to be on building up Karrde’s character and showing what type of person he is, and what type of leader he is with the crew. Bringing in Mara Jade later would then add a new wrinkle to the crew and how they adjust with her — does she bring her history with her, etc…
In fact one of the longer running arcs through the first season, and into the second season could be a mysterious client looking for old Jedi Order artifacts, which turns out to be Mara Jade. While she may have some connection to Luke Skywalker, she doesn’t want to kill him like the she does in the Thrawn trilogy. But her interest in ancient Jedi artifacts is peaking some interest from some people across the galaxy.
Which could lead to another episode, where the crew comes into possession of a certain Jedi weapon, that they try to pawn off as Darth Vader’s lightsaber. A certain female from Takodana is interested in the item and some hijinks ensue. So this could explain how Maz Kanata acquired Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber, and how the crew obtains it could help explain how this was, since the last time we saw it was falling with Luke’s hand under Cloud City.
While I would avoid direct tie-ins with events or people described in books like the Aftermath series, the names and places could still be used. So events like the Battle of Jakku can be referenced, or people like Luke, Hand, Leia, Snoke, Brendol Hux, Counselor Rax, or Grand Admiral Sloane can be referenced, but they won’t be playing a direct part in the stories, and won’t appear on screen.
The Barithor SWTOR Legacy 