Hyperspace Theories Episode Six: Jedi Masters Simon Kinberg and Luke Skywalker
This month’s episode of Hyperspace Theories centers around two masters likely to make a major impact on the future of Star Wars.
Continuing the pattern of recent episodes, the storytelling segment considers another person whose participation forms one of the foundations of the next generation of Star Wars tales: screenwriter Simon Kinberg. Although the official announcement came later, he was hired to work on Star Wars shortly after George Lucas brought on Kathleen Kennedy to lead Lucasfilm’s future. 
On the movie side, Kinberg has consulted on Episode VII and will write one of the standalone films. He also is one of the co-creators of Star Wars Rebels, including screenwriting the one-hour opening of the series, “Spark of Rebellion,” and the two season-ending episodes, “Call to Action” and “Fire Across the Galaxy.” Outside Star Wars, Kinberg is known for working with existing story material, including X-Men, Sherlock Holmes, Jumper, and Fantastic Four, as well as for his skill as a script doctor.
This month’s world-building segment discusses a key component of the backstory to The Force Awakens that the storytellers must decide: how much information do the Original Trilogy and Sequel Trilogy characters possess about the Prequel Trilogy era. During the development of much of the Expanded Universe (now Legends) tales, path dependence prevented the creators from allowing the characters to know about those yet-untold historical events. Now, however, the storytellers are operating with full knowledge of the Prequel Trilogy and The Clone Wars canon stories, and they can make thoughtful and deliberate decisions about just how much the characters in The Force Awakens ought to know to best serve the plot, characterization, and overall Star Wars narrative going forward. Although we don’t yet know what the movie will reveal, fans already are getting some hints in other areas of canon. The upcoming novel Heir to the Jedi includes some references to Prequel era events, as do the early issues of Marvel’s new comic series, including Darth Vader #1 and Star Wars #1-2. If the Prequel era will not be a “lost history” to the characters of The Force Awakens, the fans will experience a kind of Star Wars storytelling we’ve never really been able to get before.
In our storytelling segment in recent episodes we’ve talked about the design of protagonist’s and antagonist’s arcs for the new-generation characters in the Sequel Trilogy. This month we shift focus to one of the returning characters to discuss possibilities for the role Luke Skywalker will play in The Force Awakens and beyond. For the most part we consider ideas for Luke’s role based on storytelling and character development design, rather than any particular rumors floating around. One necessary topic to ponder, of course, is whether Luke will have any children, and we couldn’t help but bring up Donna Dicken’s very entertainingly titled HitFix post “303 Days Until Star Wars: Defending Luke Skywalker’s Right to Get Laid.” We also break down Mark Hamill’s comments during his fantastic interview on the February 12th edition of The Schmoes Know Movie Show. Almost as fun as the interview itself is watching the Schmoes crew freak out in their geeking out after their conversation with Mark ended, so be sure to keep watching after the interview finishes.
In a natural segue, this month’s Plot Bunny Giveaway takes on the opportunity for telling new stories with Luke Skywalker.
You can also listen to Hyperspace Theories at Libsyn or download the show there. Or subscribe on iTunes.
Hyperspace Theories is now on Twitter @HyperspacePod!
Tricia is @FANgirlcantina on Twitter, as well as posting at FANgirl Zone on Facebook and on Tumblr.
Kay tweets @Geek_Kay.
Tricia Barr's novel, Wynde, won the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Ebook. She was also part of Silence in the Library's successful all-female creator science fiction and fantasy anthology Athena's Daughters, which is available now. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in creating a fictional universe, hop over to TriciaBarr.com.
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