Clamor For A ‘Star Wars: The Old Republic’ Netflix Series Gains Momentum

If producers haven’t thought of bringing the Star Wars’ Old Republic canon to the screens before, now they just might do so.

Star Wars has long stopped as a mere piece of fiction. Star Wars, for many fans, has become a breathing entity whose life and canon continue to evolve and grow as more TV series, movies, and games get published every year.

The Star Wars franchise has, recently, been very strong, thanks to last year’s phenomenal The Force Awakens movie. But like many franchises with cult followings, fans will never really get enough. Look at Harry Potter, for example. Harry Potter fans will never tire of new Harry Potter material in whatever form it comes, as long as the magic is kept alive.

In the same spirit of fandom, a couple—or rather, a throng—of people are turning to the petition site, Change.org, to push for a new material for the Star Wars franchise, Game Informer reports. This new petition, signed by thousands of Star Wars fans, clamors for the Old Republic canon to adapted into a Netflix TV series. The petition, started by Jasmine St-Philippe from Naperville, Illinois, demands equal time for SW:TOR.

“…it’s about time that the stories from over 3,000 years before the Battle of Yavin be told to both new and old fans of the franchise.”

“The Knights of the Republic series of games as well as the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic serve as the main vehicles to tell stories of characters such as Darth Revan, Darth Malak, Bastila Shan, Darth Traya, Meetra Surik, Darth Malgus, Satele Shan, and the list goes on. The popularity of this era in Star Wars history is felt throughout the fanbase, and I feel it would do a massive disservice to us if these stories weren’t told.”

It has just been a couple of months since the petition was started, but as of this writing, the “Bring the Old Republic era of Star Wars to Netflix” petition is already at 64,000 signatures. In fact, it is also gaining momentum and much exposure with a number of websites already reporting about the petition. The said petition is addressed to The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm Ltd., the companies at the forefront of most of Star Wars’ material.

Where does Netflix come in? Well, the petitioners are looking for the new Star Wars Old Republic content to be made into a Netflix TV series primarily “because of the wealth of great content they have produced over the years, such as Narcos, House of Cards, and especially everything that Marvel has done and is still currently working on. Not only that, but Netflix can serve as a platform to tell these stories as they were meant to be portrayed, which is dark, foreboding, and a touch on the mature side.”

NME notes that The Old Republic era of the Star Wars canon was first introduced back in 2003 in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This game was first released on the Xbox but is now playable on Windows, Mac OS, and Apple and Android devices. The story of the Knights of the Old Republic happens 4000 years before the events of the original Star Wars film and before the formation of the Galactic Empire when a Dark Lord of the Sith named Darth Malak first unleashed a Sith armada against the Republic.

In 2004, a second game was released in the spirit of the Old Republic era entitled Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords. Set five years after the events of Star WarsKotOR, it follows the story a Jedi Knight called The Exile, who was exiled from the Jedi Order.

Today, one of the most popular and the most expansive exploration of the Old Republic era is Star Wars: The Old Republic, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released for Windows PC in 2011. Star Wars: The Old Republic is set 300 years after the events of Star Wars: KotOR II and lets players take a side. Be a Jedi or be a Sith and battle your way through various compelling storylines.

It is years after the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and the game is still attracting millions of players. In fact, just a week ago, Slashfilmreports that a new trailer for the game’s Knights of the Eternal Throne expansion was released and it’s so good and interesting one could just easily make it out to be a movie trailer.

A lot of Star Wars fans believe that the story of The Old Republic is very important to the franchise’ canon since it’s basically the point where everything changed and led to the events of the current Star Wars timeline. But as to whether Lucasfilm should really create a TV series or a movie trilogy, that’s still a subject of debate for Star Wars fans. Nevertheless, an adaptation of The Old Republic canon, whether on TV or on the big screen, is definitely a huge win for both the Star Wars fans and whoever is going to produce this thing.

Will the “Bring the Old Republic era of Star Wars to Netflix” petition really set the ball rolling for a TV or movie series surrounding The Old Republic story? Well, Change.org has won various victories, some with a more sensitive topic than Star Wars. But from what we’ve seen, petitions with as few as 150,000 get a win over at Change.org. And with the Old Republic petition already at 60,000, we’re just a couple more signatures and one pitch away from getting that Old Republic series we’ve been clamoring for.

Want to be a part of this milestone? You can head over to Change.org and sign the Star Wars petition.

[Featured Image by BioWare]