WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, in theaters now.
Disney+ has greatly expanded the storytelling potential of Disney's various properties. While we're going to be seeing a great deal of Marvel properties brought to the streaming service soon, right now, the biggest series around is The Mandalorian, an eight-episode series showcasing a lesser-traveled path in the Star Wars mythos.
In the future, we will also be seeing Cassian Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi spin-off series, which would both take place between the original and prequel trilogies. However, we need some further exploration of the sequel trilogy, too, the world-building in which has left many open pathways to explore, especially following is conclusive installment, The Rise of Skywalker.
But more so than the First Order or the Resistance, one group that leaves itself the most open to this kind of treatment in Episode IX is Jannah and her Stormtrooper deserters.
AN OPEN BOOK
Jannah appears very briefly in the final film. She's introduced on Endor's ocean moon, a world devastated by the wreckage of the second Death Star. We know she and her horse-riding brethren were Stormtroopers who, all at once, dropped their weapons and refused to fight for the First Order. We also know that the First Order, apparently, managed to keep word of this mass rebellion against them a total secret.
The prequel story potential here is unmatched: What were they like as Stormtroopers? What mission were they sent on? What is it that led them to abandon their post? How did they get to Endor? There's a lot of backstory hinted at by the film that would be perfect for a television series to flesh out in much the same way that The Mandalorian breathes more life into the less-explored factions of the Star Wars universe. As well as the titular bounty hunter, we also meet former Rebel shock troopers (Cara Dune), Imperial sharpshooters (Mayfield), indentured servants (Kuiil) and, of course, the Mandalorians themselves, through the Disney+ series.
The sequel trilogy opens the door up to developing the Stormtroopers more than ever before, and from a more humanized viewpoint. We could witness, firsthand, how they operate: stealing children from birth, forcing them to fight thanks to relentless psychological reprogramming; all with First Order authorities like Captain Phasma and General Hux ruling them with an iron fist.
A potential spinoff starring Jannah already comes with a set of established protagonists, a system to build off of, antagonists to oppose and a final destination: the ocean moon. It could also examine how the First Order might have tried suppress other rebellions, and the reason why there's an a apparent flaw in its re-education program that prevents some kidnapped victims from being turned into a mindless drone for the First Order.
BUILD ON WHAT WE KNOW
This sort of show would give Jannah and her group more personality and history, which would make their final stand against the First Order all the more satisfying when revisiting The Rise of Skywalker. The story could also jump from the past to the present, with Jannah investigating her stolen past as the film teased her and Lando Calrissian would do after the film ends. While Lando might not appear himself (Billy Dee Williams is getting on in years and might not be up for a prolonged appearance in a Disney+ series), we can see Jannah, joined by other Resistance members who can use more far more development. Members like, say, the underutilized Rose Tico.
Furthermore, this can offer antagonists from the sequel trilogy who didn't get enough development some time to shine. Phasma and the Knights of Ren come to mind immediately as villains with great, underused potential. Jannah fighting off the chrome-domed villain or Kylo Ren's Force-sensitive Knights would lead to some pretty high stakes, especially if we are introduced to secondary allies of Jannah who are slain before our eyes in their private rebellion.
Even Hux might be allowed to be intimidating for once -- or, worse, we can get to know the Empire-loyalist General Pryde a little better. Whatever the case may be, we understand how the Empire works pretty well thanks to years-worth of the supplemental material, but we know far less how the First Order works as of yet.
WE NEED TO KNOW THIS ERA BETTER
So far, every era of Star Wars has been well-explored, save for the sequel trilogy. Though The Mandalorian takes place between the original and sequel trilogies, it's very much still an original trilogy story, set too soon after Return of the Jedi to see the world change into the one we see in The Force Awakens.
If Star Wars is to continue for years into the future, it needs to examine the future of its universe in greater depth. With every spinoff taking place comfortably so far between the originals and prequels (save, again, for The Mandalorian), we've gotten to know that period of time pretty well.
Jannah and her Troopers exist in an era of corruption where the New Republic feigns ignorance of the First Order and where the rich spend money frivolously on both sides of a conflict that benefits them regardless. The Canto Bright sequence in The Last Jedi, though one of the weaker parts of that film, offered a window onto that kind of story waiting to be teased out more. Perhaps Jannah's adventures put her at odds with untrustworthy, wealthy folks who use her existence and safety as collateral to line their own pockets.
On top of developing this new era of Star Wars, the possibility to tell stories of morality within war as well as war profiteering of a truly galactic level is a tantalizing one. And even if a possible Disney+ series about Jannah doesn't go that deep, a simple story about Stormtroopers rebelling is equally as exciting.
Directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Keri Russell, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams and Carrie Fisher, with Naomi Ackie and Richard E. Grant. The film is in theaters now.