If you remember way back in 1996, George Lucas approved a novel that would take place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. The selling point behind the idea was that its release would be treated like a full film release, with merchandising and other aspects created to tie-in with the story. The result was Shadows Of The Empire, a story that had an influence far beyond the somewhat forgettable story it tried to tell.
Not only did it inspire George Lucas to go back and release special edition of his original trilogy — a divisive decision — but it also spawned a series of games that would inspire Star Wars media up to the recent release of Star Wars: Battlefront. And then it also seemed to have an unexpected influence on J.J. Abrams original title for The Force Awakens:
https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/680455366585401344
https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/680465074553622528
Pablo Hidalgo is the Lucasfilm creative executive and its “in-house Star Wars geek,” according to Vanity Fair. He is essentially a walking version of those Essential Guides that used to float around for Star Wars vehicles and characters. He tweeted out the revelation for the latest Star Wars entry’s former title on Twitter after a fan proposed another title. As The Verge notes, the title would’ve been fine given Lucasfilm’s new view on past Star Wars content:
That story, like nearly every other Star Wars story that wasn’t from the original six movies, is no longer canon, according to Disney. It’s all been written off as the “expanded universe,” so J.J. Abrams and company would have been fine using Shadow of the Empire as the title.
I sorta feel like this is incorrect somewhere down the line, if only due to the reaction from George Lucas at the time and how the book was touted as THE story between Empire and Jedi. Alas, no green crime lords or Han Solo wannabes are officially in the canon for the Star Wars films. Your childhood is ruined — unless you want to count the Outrider’s appearance in A New Hope’s special edition, ruining your childhood a second time.
That said, Shadows was fun as hell on Nintendo 64. And Rogue Squadron was even better.
