Star Wars: A Young Yoda Movie Needs to Happen

The Star Wars renaissance came with the massive, nearly world-shattering announcement that Disney had bought Lucasfilm. It didn't take long for the classic sci-fi/fantasy series to then find new life, with many new projects in development. Everyone was looking to The Force Awakens, the next chapter in the Skywalker saga, to be one of the biggest movies of the decade -- one that could spark faith and trust in the Star Wars brand once more. But new “Episode” movies weren't the only projects Disney had in mind. The studio also planned for spinoff movies that would take place outside of those big chapters; smaller anthology stories to highlight specific characters or events. The first of those movies, Rogue One, was a massive success, and the cameras are currently rolling on a still-untitled young Han Solo picture with Ron Howard now in the director's chair.

It was reported earlier this week that Lucasfilm and Disney were actively developing an Obi-Wan Kenobi spinoff movie for their still very young anthology brand of movies. Little is known about the project, other than the fact that Oscar-nominated director Stephen Daldry is currently the frontrunner to helm the already highly-anticipated project. But that's not all the information that came out of this report. The report also mentions that the studios are also considering movies starring many more characters. But the two that are mentioned by name are the ever-popular bounty hunting Boba Fett, and the universally-beloved, greatly-wise Jedi master Yoda.

While a movie starring Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett are both prospects that any Star Wars fan can get excited about, a spinoff movie starring a young Yoda -- emphasis on young -- would actually be the biggest and most important anthology project that Lucasfilm and Disney could embark upon. Why?

Without even mentioning how everyone likes Yoda as a character, there is a very real mystique around the character, in a similar fashion to the one Darth Vader used to hold. Yoda has seen so much, been through so much and lived through so much, but we don't know about much of it. At the time of his death in Return of the Jedi, Yoda was well over 800 years old, which would mean that even a 100-year-old Yoda could be considered young for his race, but also already versed in the ways of the Force -- although maybe (and hopefully) not as strong as we know him to be... yet. He'd be spry and active in a way we have never seen him before, inexperienced and experienced all at the same time. Learning, evolving and coming into his power.

But the absolute best part of a young Yoda movie would be that it could be set in this galaxy far, far away, from a long, long, long time ago. If this film's story were to be set 700 years in the past, we would already be looking a the massive Star Wars world in a much different way. While the Rogue One, Han Solo and now Obi-Wan movies all explore a time fans are very familiar with, a young Yoda story would be the first film to give us a glimpse into another era entirely -- an era shrouded in secrecy.

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The True Value of Exploring Star Wars' Young Yoda Era

By entering a time before Yoda was a wizened Jedi debating the Galactic Senate or living in a murky swamp, the new story would allow us to travel to the very beginnings of the Star Wars universe; the early portions of a timeline audiences are generally unfamiliar with. It would be an opportunity for the studios to truly give us something we have never seen before in the Star Wars universe: New worlds, new species and new establishments, new beliefs and customs, new wars and conflicts, all through the lens of ancestry, as this would be like opening a book of ancient Star Wars history. Plus, similarly to Rogue One, such a movie would be a magnificent opportunity to introduce a whole cast of new characters -- those that could be expendable, much like Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor and the rest of their crew -- or characters that could potentially be brought up for their own movies and adventures. Were the Yoda movie to prove successful, it could start its very own saga, and spawn sequels that tell a greater story over how many number of films the studios would deem necessary. Being set that far in the past is a golden opportunity, because it gives Disney and Lucasfilm a launching pad for many new potential movies and characters.

But what about Yoda himself? What would he be like as a young Jedi? What were his struggles, and how did he become this legendary figure among the Order? Was there even an Order back then? There is so little we actually know about him, about the Force, the Jedi and the Dark Side, about their origins, their rise, their worshipers and their struggles. A young Yoda movie would finally give us the chance to dive deep into the history of the Force. It could explore the beginnings of the Jedi, and show how they grew to become a mythical force throughout the galaxy. We could see them at their height, and at their absolute best. We could see the Jedha temple glimpsed in Rogue One, this time as something brand-new -- a revered and venerated place. We could also see the very first fall, and the birth of the Dark Side. We could get answers to questions we never knew we had, and new questions that would make us want to go even further back.

Yoda stands in front of the Five Priesteses in Star Wars: The Clone Wars

With Yoda at the center of this story -- with him as a focal point -- audiences could experience the Force like never before, going all the way back to its original introduction as a mystical energy of life. Yoda is a character with the strongest of connections to the Force, one of the most powerful characters in the Star Wars universe, and his early adventures could not only show us how he became who he is, but also help us better understand the Force.

All things said, this movie would be a gateway to a time never before examined in the Star Wars universe on-screen. It would be a new beginning, in and of itself. Something that would all rest on the little green shoulders of Yoda. But his are mighty.