Media Essays: Star Wars Horror: Can It Work?

Written by The Wandering Fox

Freddy: Uhhhhhh. Really?

Teddy: Yeah really, like why? Wandering Fox I get you have a thing for horror and it’s October but what on this Earth made you think this was a topic worth discussing?

Freddy: Yeah c’mon mate, Star Wars horror!? It’s bad enough we got a Star Wars crossover with Marvel coming out!

I know I get it, the title itself will get anybody thinking I’ve gone off my medicine! But no, I’ll explain myself. You see with the way Star Wars is right now, struggling along in the film and TV side of things apart from the animation, there has been a lot of back and forth over what can be done to revitalise the franchise. But oddly enough, an idea that was supposedly floating around a few years back was doing a Star Wars horror project, specifically from Andor creator Tony Gilroy who believed there was a Star Wars horror story in the works at Lucasfilm. Now when I first heard of this, I did think “Oh come now, really!? Is Disney THAT desperate to get Star Wars working that they’d make a horror movie!? If they’re trying to make it they probably won’t get it done because how many stuff have they announced that they didn’t get made!?”

Freddy: So why talk about it?

Teddy: You haven’t been thinking it could be a good idea?

Well now I think the idea of it could be worth trying. The question is can they be trusted? Eh, I don’t. But first let’s ask this question:

Does Horror Work In Star Wars?

Surprisingly yes.

If you cast your mind back to The Empire Strikes Back, that movie had horror elements in there from Luke’s journey into the Dark Side Nexus on Dagobah, to Han, Leia, Chewie and C3PO inside a space worm, those were greatly horror themed and they worked. You then have Dathomir, the home planet of Darth Maul and Asajji Ventress, it’s creepy and eldritch nature explored to great gruesome in the Clone Wars and Jedi Fallen Order, the latter of which saw Cal Kestis trying to survive its environment and the undead Nightsisters. Heck even the Clone Wars cartoons (both of them) had horror elements in there, Anakin’s vision of becoming Darth Vader in the 2D Clone Wars was full on horrific, then you had the Mortis story which was a really dark and creepy few episodes that had Obi Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka trying to get their way through the strange realm they were in. Though what can surprise you is that before Disney purchased Lucasfilm they actually did release a Star Wars zombie book! Yes, believe it or not they did!

Star Wars: Death Troopers as you can easily guess involves zombies in Star Wars. Han Solo and Chewbacca are caught up in the story as they along with the surviving members of the Purge finding out about Operation Blackwing, the Empire’s research in trying to stop rigor mortis and boost the healing of the human body to stop it from dying. It went wrong and created zombies, only these zombies had some form of awareness and were able to fly TIE Fighters, which made Han and Chewie’s effort of stopping them all the more intense.

But obviously with something like Star Wars being the way it’s in now, could a horror story work? I think if they have the right people then yes it can work but seeing how Lucasfilm is run and it has a revolving door of writers and directors who get hired and then get the sack it’s hard to say.

Teddy: Is this where you come in?

Freddy: Oh it’s Wandering Fox, he’s always got suggestions.

Teddy: Well let’s hope they’re good.

Yeah I know. I’ll try to keep it short because last time I came up with an idea for the blog, it got stretched out in three parts! Sorry Media Man ^^;

To me I think the best way for Star Wars to do a horror story is that it’s done as an anthology series, preferably animated, but if they wanted to spice it up as a combo of animation and live action like an episode of animation and an episode of live action it could work. That way you can get these ideas out there at once. So, what would I suggest?

First episode is an adaptation of Death Troopers. It’s animated and it’s done as faithfully as it can be, get somebody in to voice Han, go with a colour pallet similar to Maul: Shadow Lord and you open with a crowd pleaser. It gets fans on board, they see Han and Chewie again once more being their best, you get a fitting tone that goes with the story and you embrace the body horror. It helps you massively at the start of the series. Yes, keep the room full of the lungs wired up to the tanks, that adds more to the creepy atmosphere before the zombies start coming. Yes, include the part where a Wookiee child is crying over the deaths of its parents but is then bitten by them once they return to life. It stays truly horrific. But it has complex characters in there like Captain Sartoris and the Imperial Nurse Zahara who go through their own character arcs in the story, with Sartoris sacrificing himself while Zahara returns a note a Stormtrooper had for his wife upon her escape.

Second episode I’d make it live action. With Hayden Christensen back as Anakin in live action you can do an episode of psychological horror where Anakin seems to be living an ordinary life, the life he wanted with Padme, a peaceful life on Naboo. It seems okay, but something is WRONG. There’s a shadow that haunts the room, a horrible breath that keeps Anakin awake at night. That shadow is coming for the kid, Anakin is desperate but Padme is blissfully unaware of it, asking Anakin to come to the lake. It all reaches a climax as Anakin goes to the lake thinking the shadow has taken his child there but to his shock Padme is waiting for him, she shoots him and he falls in the lake, Padme tells him to “Join me”. Anakin tries to get back out but the water gets hot and he screams. He swims to the shore and looks up at Padme, who looks at him and asks “Why did you kill me, Ani?” Then her neck snaps and she falls to the ground, standing behind her is the shadow. It’s Darth Vader, who tells Anakin he has no reason to live now, he should just give in and die, saying his son has no need for him, standing aside to reveal Luke there with Sith eyes. Anakin closes his eyes and sees through Vader’s, he’s just lost Luke on Bespin but Anakin calls for him, desperate to reach out to his son, to save him and be the father he should be.

You end this episode with a tie in to The Empire Strikes Back as we know it was around this point that Anakin started to return to take back his soul after finding out Luke was his son, thus you get some hope, but the episode here shows you that inside Anakin is trying to fight for his life and is left forever reminded of the loss, pain and death he caused. It being live action helps spice things up with the return of Hayden as Anakin. The only thing that could be stopping it is if Natalie Portman is interested in returning as Padme, but hey a fan can dream.

Episode 3 goes back to animation and this time it’s set in the past, before The Phantom Menace. It’s a survival horror as we see a young man piloting through the galaxy when he runs afoul of space pirates who are after his cargo and crashes onto Dathomir, with him and his droid trying to find a way of escaping the planet, all the while haunted by the undead and the horrid creatures of the planet. The ship is devoured by a big winged monster and he’s forced to abandon it, he and his droid wading through the sludge like rivers and finding multiple bodies in there. He sees the space pirates’ ship flying in and fears he’s done for until he finds an old temple. Hoping there’s somebody in there who can help him he dashes in but is surrounded by Nightsisters, who knock him unconscious and tie him up, wanting to cut him open and experiment on his organs. They begin to cut him when the space pirates arrive and start shooting at them, giving the man and the droid the chance to escape. With the pirates busy with the Nightsisters the pilot and the droid get on their ship and fly off Dathomir, the man resting back as he charts for his home, ready to finally call it a day on travelling.

Episode 4 goes back to live action but this story goes far back in the past and this time it has a droid as the star of the episode. The droid is a good friend to a family who have lots of fun with it, but then the whole planet is stripped of life by a strange power. The environment, the natural resources, the people all start to die and those that are left are either so traumatised they are driven to snarling rage while others have become wandering empty corpses. The droid cannot understand why this has occurred and is saddened by the deaths of the family with only the young boy left, he’s left so shaken and traumatised by all this that the droid has to help him leave his family. The droid thinks that if they get to a ship they can find survivors and go to another planet for help. While on their way they get haunted by a strange figure in black, the boy gets more unwell and red lightning takes up the air, the boy crippled by it until a few survivors run forward and shoot at the figure while others get the boy away. The droid watches in utter horror as the rescuers all start screaming and fall to the ground with their flesh stripped of their bodies while those still trying to fight are finished by a red lightsaber. The droid and the kid are taken to the governor’s building where the survivors are hoping to make a run for the space port. They look out the window and see the figure. They all wonder if he’s alone and if it was just him who did this. The figure is none other than Darth Nihilus.

The Sith Lord then speaks and his voice is so horrible and so powerful that the people inside the building start screaming and many lose their flesh. Those that are withstanding it try to run for it with the droid and the boy going with them. Darth Nhilius zaps some with his force drain while cutting apart a few others. The droid wonders why it’s not affected by Darth Nihilus. Those left who make it to the space port find only a lone ship working that can fit only so many people on board. The boy is sent on there with a few others while the droid chooses to stay behind, tells the boy to live a good life and stays behind, activating the port’s defences. Those staying behind fight Darth Nihilus as the ship flies away, they do their hardest but the Sith Lord is too powerful and wins in the end. The droid looks at him and questions why he does this. Darth Nihilus, despite being hard to understand, explains to the droid all life is meaningless when you have lost so much, and only through him can he bring order to the galaxy by draining all life and taking the Force, reducing humanity to its chaotic nature to rid the universe of the lies of life. He stabs the droid and leaves, the droid’s optics faint as it stares at the Sith as he walks away, relieved he got the boy to safety after that.

Darth Nihilus is perfect to do a horror story with thanks to him being a cosmically powerful Sith Lord he can drain the lives of planets and his entire self is a eldritch horror. He has no body left, only his soul remains and it’s tied to his mask, his whole form is a big shape of nothing that is held together by his mind and through the Force. He speaks in such a strange way as well that sounds as though he’s talking with the millions of voices he’s killed through his Force Drain.

I wanted it live action because that way you get Darth Nihilus played by a physical actor and you get to see the gross and dark effects of his powers and having a droid be the star gives you a good chance to cast an actor who relies a lot on body acting and voice work, while also exploring Darth Nihilus from a droid’s perspective as the droid feels helpless in its immunity to him as it can do little to help its family it loves.

Episode 5: Back to animation. Based on a Jedi trying to survive the purge by the Clone Troopers, she and her Padawan are hunted by them on a grey like planet. The Jedi and her Padawan were in the middle of a clean up mission on a Separatist controlled planet when the Clones are controlled under Order 66 to kill them. Forced into trying to survive on the planet, the Jedi and the Padawan are left shell shocked as they can feel many Jedi dying. They try to escape back to their ship which is guarded by many Clones. The Padawan is scared of fighting the Clones because to him they’re still their friends and think it’s a Separatist plot. The Jedi master gets it but in this matter they have to think of themselves now. They find a droid tank that has a few inactivated Battle Droids inside and bring them online but set their guns to stun. The droids come out and start fighting the Clones while the Jedi and Padawan try to make a run for the ship. They do get in and fly but are caught in the tractor beam of a Republic Destroyer ship. Fearing for her Padawan, the Jedi ejects him out of the ship in a pod and tries to fight the clones on the ship but is shot and killed. The Padawan lands back on the planet where he tries to find a way to get to any city. But somebody is haunting him. He hears a horrid sound and he ignites his lightsaber but finds nobody there. He sighs and turns off his lightsaber. But then a red one ignites, it’s Darth Vader who slashes apart the Padawan.

Episode 6: The finale to the anthology, this is animation. Surviving Sith Inquisitors of the Empire try to travel the galaxy to find purpose in life with the Emperor gone (Palpatine died in Return of the Jedi). There’s an Inquisitor who feels the pull to go back to the light and help Luke rebuild the Jedi Order which causes a tense relationship to occur between him and his master. While travelling they can feel a powerful presence in the Force and find a few space stations that seemed to have suffered damage. Guessing there’s an Inquisitor on board they go to the station and find bodies everywhere until they find a young woman with white hair and bright eyes crying, asking for help. Sensing a great power within her, the Inquisitors take her on their ship and begin flying away. However, the woman acts calmer and starts asking questions, asking if they want a purpose in life now that the Emperor is dead. They’re surprised by how clever she is and she starts to egg on at them that the Inquisitor who wants to join Luke is weak and he should die. She ends up planting seeds of doubt in the Inquisitors that they’re in fact walking among traitors and that they are secretly helping Luke and will kill whoever gets in their way. The Inquisitor who wants to do good senses she’s creating the fighting and confronts her, but she uses her abilities to weaken him, asking if he really wants to belong to something then he should join her, only through her can he be powerful enough to live. A fight erupts and it’s all a psychic manipulation by the woman who corrupts the last Inquisitor in joining her. The ship under their control the woman says “Set course for Coruscaunt. It’s time the Jedi knew the true power of Abeloth!”

That’s where I’d end the anthology, teasing that Luke’s battle with Abeloth is coming and it will result in his journey to reach Mortis to find the dagger and kill her for good. Abeloth is a cosmically powerful being who’s entire appearance is ripe for a horror story and her connection to the Father, Son and Daughter makes for a good tether to the Clone Wars.

I think that’s it.

Teddy: Well this doesn’t look like it will be split in other parts.

Freddy: Yeah, the Media Man will be well pleased.

I hope he is. But what do you all think? Do you think Disney can try a horror Star Wars story? Do you think an idea should be done? Or do you think horror has no place in Star Wars and we should just go with whatever else they’d make? Tell me what you think in the comments below everybody, thank you for reading and Happy Halloween in a couple of weeks!

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