Forgotten Piece Of Star Wars Could Save The Entire Galaxy

Famously (or infamously, depending on who you talk to), the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to get rebooted after Avengers: Secret Wars. While that creative Hail Mary may or may not overcome the public’s collective superhero fatigue, Star Wars fans have been asking the big question: when will Disney reboot this galaxy far, far away and try to save a franchise that has been slowly dying since the release of the Sequel Trilogy?

Such a reboot would be easier than you might imagine because a forgotten episode of Star Wars Rebels introduced a time travel mechanic that would allow for a canonical reboot of the entire franchise.

Back To the Past

The Rebels episode is “A World Between Worlds,” which premiered way back in 2018. The name of the episode refers to a special Force dimension that serves as the ultimate intersection of time and space. Ezra Bridgers travels through this dimension, allowing him to travel to the past and rescue Ahsoka from her fatal duel with Darth Vader back on Malachor.

That’s right: we wouldn’t have an Ahsoka show (nor her cameos in series like The Mandalorian) if she hadn’t been rescued from certain death thanks to some Force-powered time travel. By the end of the episode, the portal to the World Between Worlds is sealed, and its temple has sunk into the ground; however, should Disney bring this mystical dimension back for future movies and shows, it would open the door for rebooting the Star Wars universe in some fresh and exciting ways.

Finally: A Way To Fix the Sequel Trilogy

For example, this dimension could be used to save other beloved characters from certain death. What if a character like Ezra or Rey rescues Han Solo from getting killed in the Sequel Trilogy? This would allow these characters to appear in future Star Wars projects (assuming they can get Harrison Ford back, of course) while allowing for a canon-friendly reboot of the sequel plot elements fans hated so much.

For example, the Rebels episode “A World Between Worlds” makes it clear that changing the past affects the present. Ezra wants to save his mentor Kanan Jarrus from an explosion that took his life, but Ahsoka points out that Kanan died keeping that explosion from killing his fellow rebels. If he were plucked from the past like Ahsoka was, it would change the timeline because everyone he was trying to protect would now be dead.

So, something like saving Han Solo from being killed by Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens would create a ripple effect on future events. For example, Han’s fellow smuggler Lando Calrissian has no trouble rallying the galaxy to aid the Resistance in The Rise of Skywalker, even though Leia couldn’t get anyone to come help them in The Last Jedi. Han is just as charismatic as Lando and could have gotten Leia the help she needed to drive off the First Order earlier in TLJ, meaning that Luke Skywalker wouldn’t have to sacrifice himself holding off Kylo Ren so the Resistance could escape.

Bringing Back Star Wars’ Greatest Hero

That would allow Mark Hamill to appear as Luke Skywalker in future Star Wars projects. More importantly, it would allow for a complete do-over of the events of the sequels. That might sound extreme, but effectively erasing The Rise of Skywalker might be the best way to fix what is wrong with modern Star Wars.

Of course, characters could affect the past in other provocative ways…like, what if someone kept Luke Skywalker from thinking about killing Ben Solo? This would have kept the young man from becoming Kylo Ren and possibly kept the First Order from rising in the first place. That would give future Disney writers a clean slate to effectively replace the Sequel Trilogy from scratch.

Let the Past Die. Kill It If You Have To

These are obviously just a couple of possibilities for using time travel to reboot the Star Wars universe. There are infinite other possibilities, and that’s my point: in the hands of skilled screenwriters, it’s possible to reboot this franchise in a way that maintains certain elements fans love while changing the status quo as much as possible. Best of all, such a reboot wouldn’t feel arbitrary because a forgotten episode of Rebels provided a canonical explanation for in-universe time travel.

Incidentally, a somewhat different version of The World Between Worlds appeared in Ahsoka, which was mostly used to show Ahsoka (who accessed this dimension via the Force rather than a special temple) dream-like visions of her own past and allow her to talk to Anakin Skywalker again. It was great to see Hayden Christensen as Anakin, of course, and pleasant to see Ahsoka get some closure, but we don’t see her or anyone else use this special dimension to change the past. If a future Star Wars movie or show used The World Between Worlds more like Rebels did, it would allow Disney to give the galaxy far, far away a much-needed reboot.

Right now, it’s an open secret that Disney is squandering the Star Wars franchise, and occasional awesomeness like Andor just doesn’t make up for a failed Sequel Trilogy and middling TV shows like The Book of Boba Fett and The Acolyte. As with Marvel, a reboot is now necessary to fix the franchise’s narrative mistakes and make general audiences excited about a galaxy far, far away again. And unless Disney is willing to use time travel to change this franchise’s past, the blunt truth is that Star Wars may have no future.