Here is a list of questions I believe answer basic questions about the Star Wars Expanded Universe for new fans, or fans that want a refresher.
What is the Star Wars Expanded Universe?
In short, the Star Wars Expanded Universe is a timeline that includes every single piece of officially licenced Star Wars material before April 25th, 2014 outside of the main Original Saga movies (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) before the sidelining of the EU by Lucasfilm in favour of a new timeline (the New Canon, as dubbed in the announcement on starwars.com)
There are a couple of exceptions:
Son of Dathomir exists in both the Expanded Universe and New Canon, based on a script written for The Clone Wars (2008) before the date of the sidelining.
The Clone Wars (2008) and it’s tie-in material are a point of contention with the Expanded Universe which is a whole separate topic in itself.
Star Wars: the Old Republic MMO short stories and updates still fall under the Expanded Universe timeline.
Otherwise, Non-canon stories were labelled as Infinities with a logo (pictured), were separated from the rest of Star Wars and are the only real separation between what counts towards the official continuity and what doesn’t, before the April 25th, 2014 announcement with the sidelining of the EU.
Was the Expanded Universe Canon?
Short answer: yes. For a longer answer, please refer to quotes on the Defending the Expanded Universe page.
Isn’t it basically a reboot?
Yes but no. The way I have interpreted the announcement on starwars.com and subsequent announcements, they have never officially decanonised the Expanded Universe – only stopped creating new stories for it in favour of the New Canon (apart from a couple of exceptions). Therefore I have taken to calling it a sidelining of the Expanded Universe, as they have never officially stated that it is not canon anymore and it still stands as a completely separate continuity to the New Canon.
When was the Expanded Universe created?
Technically, the Expanded Universe was created in 1976 with the release of the novelisation of Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker. Otherwise, there are a couple of other point which can be given in the history of Star Wars where you can say it was created:
- In 1978 with the release of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, the first novel published that is an additional story not adapted to film.
- in 1991 with the release of Heir to the Empire, the next novel outside of the film script adaptations released after Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, of which the popularity sparked an bigger effort towards keeping continuity between all forms of media and the Expanded Universe branding was born.
What’s with calling it “Legends”?
On April 25th, 2014, Lucasfilm decided to create a new timeline instead of following the established material in the Expanded Universe, taking only the Original Saga (Main 6 Star Wars movies) and The Clone Wars (2008).
During this time, the Expanded Universe was labelled “Legends” for everything inside of it, including Infinities titles, and future printings of Expanded Universe material have been adorned with a Legend banner on the cover.
So why keep calling it the Expanded Universe?
It really comes down to personal preference, but the argument against the “Legends” labelling I believe is stronger than for it. While it exists and we shouldn’t get too hung up on it, this is why I continue to call it the Expanded Universe:
- Expanded Universe was the official branding from Lucasfilm and things like toys had the branding clearly on their packaging.
- Lucasfilm have never officially called any of the New Canon material Expanded Universe, or Extended Universe, or anything similar. Thus the distinction between continuities still stands.
- When reprinting material, the Legends banner has been printed on Infinities (Non-canon) stories, thus causing more confusion of what counts towards the continuity and what doesn’t.
- it is possible to build a complete collection without having a book with the Legends banner printed on it – the sole exception being Marvel Star Wars #108, which I am choosing not to include in the definition of “complete” here.
- The inclusion of new material printed under the “Legends” banner, mainly Marvel Star Wars #108, is divisive. Since it is in a newer era of Lucasfilm, after the date of sidelining the EU, just lumping it together with everything else as “Legends” doesn’t work perfectly with continuity and arguably damages it further.
- After what Lucasfilm has done to the Expanded Universe with the lack of transition to the New Canon and in some people’s opinions not honouring it, the label of “Legends” gives the impression of it being less than what the New Canon is.
- In an introduction in “The Essential Legends Collection” unabridged audiobooks, it explicitly states that the Expanded Universe is what is now labelled Legends, framed in a way that it clearly does not mean that it is also a noun used for the New Canon.
What’s this “Canon Tier” thing?
There is a common misconception when people hear about the Canon Tier system that the canon tiers count towards how important a story is to the continuity. This is not true.
The Canon Tier system was denotation in an internal documentation system at Lucasfilm that has never been released to the public. It was used to notate where particular information was from – movies, main continuity, older releases, or non-canon are the main ones. This was mainly to know how familiar the audience would be with particular pieces of information.
I discuss it in-depth here in this video.
Sources:
https://web.archive.org/web/20070319051650/https://blogs.starwars.com/holocron/33
Callum's Cantina 