'Star Wars: The Old Republic' Trailer Shows The Potential For Original, Standalone Movies

One of the chief concerns fans had about the direction of the Star Wars saga over at Disney and Lucasfilm was that the companies might not take advantage of how expansive the galaxy far, far away can be. While it makes sense that Star Wars: The Force Awakens would continue the legacy and story of the main characters from the previous two trilogies, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is still playing things rather safe by focusing on a plot tied directly to the events of the first movie.

We're happy to cut Disney and Lucasfilm some slack for Rogue One since this spin-off is kind of a grand experiment to see if fans like these separate stories. But after that there's a Han Solo spin-off, indicating that there's not an immediate plan to branch out further away from the characters, events, and locations we've come to know. Sure, there's plenty of new stuff in Rogue One, but fans want more.

It appears some of the best original stories are being told in the video game world with the MMORPG game Star Wars: The Old Republic. The game has a new expansion pack coming out this December called Knights of the Eternal Throne, and the cinematic trailer they just released for it is a perfect example of the kind of the original, standalone stories that can exist in the Star Wars universe.

Here's the Star Wars The Old Republic trailer for Knights of the Eternal Throne:

Little dialogue is needed to tell the story in this cinematic trailer for the expansion pack coming on December 2nd this year. And while the story of a child turning to the dark side is something we've seen before, it's never been done with characters and settings like this, which makes me curious about everything happening on screen. Plus, there's that awesome lightsaber staff hybrid, some sleek armor, different training facilities for Force-sensitive students, and tons of fascinating new elements. Of course, this is all set-up for what the expansion pack actually entails:

Sometime after the Battle of Odessen, the Outlander, a veteran of the Great Galactic War, leads the Alliance in a battle against Empress Vaylin as she begins her conquest of the galaxy. Facing some of the biggest threats they have ever encountered, the Outlander and their Alliance discover new worlds and undertake dangerous undercover missions in their fight to take control of the Eternal Throne.

Check out the names of all the battles, factions, characters and more that aren't in any of the Star Wars movies (and learn more about them over here). Vaylin is the kid that you see in the cinematic above turning to the dark side, much to the chagrin of her mother. She's now a force (no pun intended) to be reckoned with across the galaxy, and an entire war is being fought because of her.

There are so many places that Star Wars can go on the big screen, and it would be great to see the movies expand into the same kind of territory that video games like The Old Republic are allowed to go. I'm not saying that the game itself should be turned into a movie, though that would be something cool to see, but rather that the Star Wars universe needs to stop being so small and isolated to a group of characters who are all connected to each other.

For even more, check out this cinematic for Knights of the Fallen Empire, the previous expansion pack:

Again, there are so many excellent additions to what we already love about Star Wars that I want to see stories like this brought to life in the movies. We need to move away from the Skywalker and Solo families, and even moving away from the Empire and Rebels might not be a bad idea. Yes, there will always be the struggle of good versus evil, but it's the characters within that struggle which make it engaging. Here's hoping Disney and Lucasfilm play things a little less safe in the future.