Star Wars has had a string of very public failures in recent years, ranging from the botched Sequel Trilogy to lackluster shows like The Book of Boba Fett and The Acolyte. This has left fans and executives alike wondering if there are any good new stories to tell in this galaxy far, far away. My hot take is that Disney should use the infamous Revenge of the Sith line about there being “heroes on both sides” to create a new show where General Grievous and his army are the good guys.
The opening crawl of Revenge of the Sith had a baffling line about how “there are heroes on both sides.” It didn’t make sense because we never saw any heroic actions by the droid army or the Confederacy of Independent Systems; everyone involved seemed cool with everything from kidnapping and murder to attempted planetary genocide. Even within the movie claiming this side had heroes, the only one of them with any personality (General Grievous) is so irredeemably evil that Obi-Wan Kenobi doesn’t hesitate to put him down.
“There are heroes on both sides.”
That’s when the words of older Obi-Wan Kenobi came back to me; specifically, when the Jedi Master defended his claim that Darth Vader had killed Anakin Skywalker by saying this was true “from a certain point of view.” In its own way, the opening crawl’s claim that there were “heroes on both sides” is quite true. And portraying that truth onscreen could make for the best Star Wars TV show since Andor.
Think about it: by definition, the Confederacy of Independent Systems wants to be free from Republic control. Through the eyes of our onscreen heroes, this idea seems crazy because they see the Republic as a peaceful democracy and the rebels as rabble-rousers needlessly starting a Civil War. But when you think about it, the Prequel Trilogy is all about how flawed and problematic the Republic is, which is why a show about the CIS and General Grievous would make for such compelling television.
Heroes of the Confederacy?
By the end of The Phantom Menace, the Republic is ruled by a Sith who rises to power, and by Attack of the Clones, he has secretly commissioned a Clone army that will obey his every whim. Behind the scenes, the CIS is being manipulated by Palpatine, but as far as the rank-and-file soldiers and leaders know, they are fighting against a tyrannical government enforcing fascist policies on the galaxy with an illegally-created army. And based on all that “thunderous applause” in Revenge of the Sith, we know the Republic’s leaders greatly support their evil leader’s actions even when he declares himself dictator for life.
In other words, General Grievous saw himself much like Luke Skywalker did: someone devoted to using every resource at his command to fight an Empire that threatens the entire galaxy. If there are “heroes on both sides,” wouldn’t this make Grievous one of them? And even if he isn’t, wouldn’t you like to know who the CIS good guys were that saw themselves as righteous rebels fighting for the greatest cause of their lifetime?
General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith
In the hands of the right showrunner, the Star Wars show I’m proposing could weave in Andor-style political storytelling while also fleshing out the events of the Prequel Trilogy. It would also flesh out Grievous and the rest of the “bad” characters that George Lucas portrayed so one-dimensionally. At its best, such a show could even do what The Clone Wars so effortlessly did: enhance the Prequels by expanding on the motivations of some of its most important characters.
I don’t really think such a show is likely to get announced, and if it does, Disney will probably kill it like they’ve killed every other interesting-sounding project (RIP, Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron movie!). But if they want to bring Star Wars back to its former glory, the House of Mouse needs to start taking some creative risks and do more than give us half-baked versions of what we’ve already seen. Andor showed that taking these risks is the “one way out” for this franchise, and my proposed show could deliver all the politics, pathos, and Padawan-killing the fandom craves.
And let’s be honest: wouldn’t that be better than just watching The Mandalorian get worse, season after season?
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