Disney Continues To Destroy George Lucas’ ‘Star Wars’ Legacy, Announces “Romance” Set for 2026
Star Wars has always been many things — an adventure saga, fairy tale, even a political drama. But at its core, it’s a space opera. It’s no mystery that George Lucas’ galaxy was built on pulp serials, samurai flicks, and familiar fantasy myths dressed in sci-fi clothing.
It’s epic and awesome, yes, absolutely, but it’s also supposed to be fun. Jedi Knights are basically wizards with laser swords, smugglers crack wise while dodging space fascists, and destiny itself often hinges on pot luck (with the Force thrown in for good measure).
Somehow, though, Disney and Lucasfilm have forgotten that. Since the 2012 acquisition, the franchise has taken itself a bit too seriously.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and the Disney+ series Andor are both masterfully crafted — but they’re also utterly joyless. Even solid animated projects like The Clone Wars and Rebels sometimes mistake gravitas for depth.
Now comes “Star Wars: Eyes Like Stars”, a new young adult novel by New York Times bestselling author Ashley Poston. Announced at NYCC (via StarWars.com), it’s set a year and a half before Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens, following two new characters chasing love, a mysterious artifact, and a bit of trouble with the First Order.
There’s nothing wrong with exploring romance in Star Wars — Han Solo and Princess Leia’s love story is one of the franchise’s best arcs — but romance has always served the franchise, not defined it. Putting it front and center feels too at odds with its core identity.
Sure, “Eyes Like Stars” sounds intriguing enough, and it’s fun to see the franchise experiment with genre. The Clone Wars series leaned into genre quite a bit, from monster-movie episodes like “The Zillo Beast Strikes Back” to noirs like “Lightsaber Lost”.
With Star Wars struggling to regain fan interest after losing many longtime fans as a result of several disappointing projects from Disney (The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Mandalorian Season 3, Ahsoka, The Acolyte, the sequels), it should be focusing on returning to what made it so iconic in the first place: the romance of adventure.
But it seems Disney wants to prove that Star Wars can be anything: a spy thriller (Andor), a Western (The Mandalorian), and now, apparently, a YA love story. However, maybe what fans really want isn’t constant reinvention — it’s a return to form. Star Wars was never meant to be grim, and it was never meant to be a Hallmark card in hyperspace, either.
Will you be reading the new Star Wars romance novel? Let us know in the comments!
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